Re: Got AA in your cells - be afraid of Poison Ivy!Taka wrote:
> On Apr 29, 6:45 am, Marshall Price <d0213...@yahoo . com > wrote:
>> Taka wrote:
>>> Without AA in the body there are no blisters and overreactive
>>> inflammatory responses like this one:
>>> What's worse that poison ivy? Nothing.
>>> A few hours to a couple of days after you touch any part of a poison
>>> ivy plant, your skin will start to itch and turn red, then break out
>>> in blisters and develop crusty yellow scabs. The leaves contain so
>>> much oil that you can break out after you pat a dog that has brushed
>>> against the leaves. You can break out just from being near burning
>>> poison ivy leaves.
>>> If you think that you may have touched any part of a poison ivy plant,
>>> wash it off with soap and water as soon as possible. You can remove
>>> the oil only for the first few minutes after you touch it. After that,
>>> the oil is bound to the skin and cannot be removed. Then, it cannot be
>>> spread from you to other people or to other parts of your body. You
>>> also should wash clothes that have touched the oil because they can
>>> cause a rash for many months.
>>> The rash becomes more severe for up to five days and then starts to
>>> clear, but if you have several spots or you continue to touch objects
>>> that have the oil, you can continue to break out for months. Since
>>> poison ivy is caused by your own immunity trying to kill your own
>>> skin, the only effective treatments are those that shut down your
>>> immunity. Antihistamines are ineffective. The standard treatment is
>>> cortisone type injections or pills, but some doctors do not prescribe
>>> them because they are afraid of a rare and unusual complication in
>>> which the hip joint is damaged. Frequent bathing helps to prevent
>>> infection.
>>> SOURCE: * w w w .drmirkin . com /archive/6883.html
>>> See also:
>>> * en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison ivy
>>> * en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urushiol-induced contact dermatitis
>>> * en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urushiol
>>> Taka
>> The Wikipedia article on Urushiol-induced contact dermatitis (in the
>> "Mechanism" section) says that the inflammatory reaction is an "induced
>> autoimmune response," but then it goes on to state that urushiol
>> "changes the shape of cell surface proteins ... initiating a T-cell
>> mediated immune response."
>
> There are 2 mechanisms of preventing autoimmunity. First is a
> selective killing of immune cells producing Ig reacting with own body
> antigens - this seems to take place mostly during fetal development.
> The second is the localized production of prostaglandins such as PGE2
> which causes immune tolerance - this is also used by the fetus and
> cancer cells to evade the immune system.
>
>> To me, that's a contradiction. Autoimmunity doesn't consist of
>> immune reactions against unfamiliar cell surface proteins, but familiar
>> ones. Though it might be an unpleasant and unproductive immune
>> response, and some healthy people do not react to urushiol that way, it
>> appears more likely to be an ordinary, run-of-the-mill allergic
>> reaction, not an autoimmune one.
>
> Partially, I would say the people not reacting to urushiol may have
> less AA in their cells or the reactivity is determined by their HLA
> genotype. Allergic reactions are driven by AA metabolites -
> leukotrienes such as LTC - some of which may be formed even by non-
> enzymatic oxidation. Urushiol may induce both AA release and its
> oxidation, it is an unsaturated lipid-like prooxidant molecule:
>
> QUOTE: The allergic reaction is dependent on the degree of
> unsaturation of the alkyl chain. Less than half of the general
> population reacts with the saturated urushiol alone, but over 90%
> react with urushiol containing at least two degrees of unsaturation
> (double bonds). UNQUOTE
> SOURCE: * en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urushiol
>
> Here you have the double bonds again - they are so reactive!
>
>> Dr. Mirkin's statement regarding hydrocortisone pills and injections,
>> that "some doctors do not prescribe them because they are afraid of a
>> rare and unusual complication in which the hip joint is damaged," is
>> also puzzling -- not that doctors shouldn't avoid the risk of damaging
>> hip joints, but the contraindications, precautions, and adverse effects
>> of hydrocortisone fill several pages of small type in the PDR.
>
> Corticosteroids are suppressing prostaglandin production and
> prostaglandins are needed for tissue repair and maintenance. See e.g.
> my old post entitled "Inflammation for connective tissue repair" (this
> doesn't mean I am advocating AA here, the eicosanoids with similar
> effects could be produced from Mead acid as well).
>
> Taka
Sorry, but I'm getting too confused. You speak of arachidonic acid
"release," but don't say where. Let's forget about cancer and the fetus
and focus on "the localized production of prostaglandins such as PGE2
which causes immune tolerance." I've never heard of this, but how does
it affect *auto-immunity*?
Do you agree with me that immune reactions to urushiol-altered cell
surface proteins are not auto-immune reactions?
--
Marshall Price of Miami
Known to Yahoo as d021317c