As a close cousin of cardiac atherosclerosis, peripheral artery disease simply blocks different arteries in other body areas. While the heart’s arteries lend themselves to good targets for stent placement to keep such blood channels open, those in the legs or arms must leave room for flexibility in bending. Vascular specialists therefore do not have many options to treat this common ailment. Even in the heart, stents can become blocked again overtime, but in the periphery they are often left with bypass surgeries to go around the blockage. If the current research in the article below advances, all that could change with the help of two natural therapies, nanoparticles, and a balloon.
For those up on natural therapies, resveratrol and quercetin are easily recognized names. Each play a role in a variety of disease processes. Resveratrol arose from red wine extract, initially considered to be a possible fountain of youth type treatment. Once the hype died down to reality, while not a fountain of youth, it does serve a great number of functions in a functional MD’s armamentarium. Quercetin stands out as well for its ability to prevent histamine release from mast cells, serve as anti-oxidant and other functions. I cannot count how many patients I have on these therapies.
Researchers in this study recognized that the correct combination of resveratrol and quercetin could lower the chance that an opened artery would regrow its blockage. Their challenge came in delivering the right dosages and combination continuously to a focused area of opened artery. The addition of nanoparticle technology enables this to happen. Using particles many times smaller than the width of human hair, they coated their usual cathether balloon and used it to paint the inside of the artery. Normally such a balloon on a wire would be inserted in a deflated state into the artery until the balloon portion went through the blocked section. The doctor would inflate the balloon and spread open the area. By putting a collapsed stent on the balloon, they could then open it to “stent” open the area.
In areas where a stent will not work, painting the resveratrol/quercetin tainted nanoparticles over the balloon surface, they are attempting to leave behind the right amount of these therapies. Too much and the artery wall might suffer damage, but too little and the blockage returns. As we know in functional medicine, most of our body systems like enough but not too much. Apparently, this process is no different in regards to preventing return of artery blockage.
One thing you probably will not find anytime soon in a functional doctor’s office is a balloon catheter being run into a patient’s artery. However, you will find frequent use of resveratrol and quercetin. We do this especially when we find other reasons to use these two nutraceuticals. We love using 1 therapy to cover 2 or 3 or even 4 processes. I look forward to learning more from researchers about the correct dosing for oral forms as wait on further research with the nanoparticles. Just more ways that functional medicine and natural therapies are helping patients live healthier more abundant lives.
Tammy R. Dugas, Gabrielle Brewer, Madison Longwell, Taylor Fradella, Jacob Braun, Carlos E. Astete, Merilyn H. Jennings, Cristina M. Sabliov. Nanoentrapped polyphenol coating for sustained drug release from a balloon catheter. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B: Applied Biomaterials, 2018; DOI: 10.1002/jbm.b.34157
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
