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Mitochondria and Vaccines

By Russell L. Blaylock, M.D.

April 14, 2008

As the person who first proposed the microglial/excitotoxin hypothesis (JANA 2003;6(4): 21-35 and J. Amer Phys Surg 2004; 9(2): 46-51) I feel I should explain the connection between microglia/excitotoxicity and mitochondrail dysfunction. My hypothesis was confirmed two years later by Vargis, et al in which they demonstrated chronic levels of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines as well as microglia and astrocytic activation in the brains of 11 autistics from age 5 years to 44 years, even though they never mentioned excitotoxicity as a final mechanism. I wish to address the mitochondrial issue, which has become of major interest with the appearance of the Hannah Poling’s case.

In my original hypothesis, later expanded in a number of other articles, I explained that when the systemic immune system is overactivated, the brain’s special immune system, consisting of microglia and astrocytes, also becomes activated.

The microglia normally remain in a quiescent state called ramified microglia. Upon activation, they swell, assume special immune receptors in their membranes and move within the extracellular space. In this activated state they act as immune presenting cells and can secrete a number of inflammatory chemicals, such as IL-1, IL-2, IL-6, IL-12 and IL-18, TNF-alpha, chemokines, complement and two excitotoxins called glutamate and quniolinic acid. They also generate a number of powerful free radicals and lipid peroxidation molecules.

A number of studies have shown that when you use powerful immune adjuvants, as used in vaccines (especially when combined), this inflammatory/excitotoxic reaction within the brain is maximized. With the first vaccine (or natural infection) the brain’s microglia are in a semi-activated stated called primed. If you re-vaccinate the animal or person within 1 to 2 months, these primed microglia overreact intensely, pouring out even higher levels of the excitotoxins, inflammatory cytokines and free radicals. Each subsequent set of vaccinations worsens this process.

These inflammatory/excitotoxic secretions damage the developing brain, which is undergoing its most active development at the very time the child is receiving 24 vaccines. This vaccine schedule exposes the child to a priming HepB vaccine at birth, 6 vaccines at age 2 months, then 5 vaccines at age 4 months, 7 vaccines at 6 months and finally 8 antigens at age one year. Each successive multi-dose barrage of vaccines intensely activates the brain’s microglial system and the microglia activate the astrocytes, which also secretes, inflammatory cytokines, free radicals and excitotoxins.

Experiments in which this pattern of immune stimulation is simulated using a vaccine adjuvant, demonstrate that it produces significant disruption of brain development. The greatest damage in these experiments is to the cerebellum and frontal lobes, which is also the primary sites of damage in autism. Further, food allergins also act as brain microglial activators, thereby worsening and prolonging the original immune/excitotoxic effect produced by the vaccines.

So, how does mercury play into all this. Mercury in extremely small concentrations (nanomolar concentrations) can activate microglia, trigger excitotoxicity and induce significant mitochondrial dysfunction. Blocking the glutamate receptors (that trigger excitotoxicity) also blocks most of the neurotoxic effect of mercury at these concentrations. That is, most of lower-dose effects of mercury in the brain are secondary to excitotoxicity. The mitochondria produce most of the energy used by neurons and a number of studies have shown that suppressing mitochondrial function by itself is not enough to alter brain function, but it is enough to magnify excitotoxic damage. That is, it is the excitotoxicity that is disrupting brain function and development.

A newer study has shown conclusively, that mitochondrial activation using a vaccine adjuvant not only suppresses mitochondrial function but that the damage cause by this mitochondrial suppression is actually produced by excitotoxicity. Blocking excitotoxicity completely blocks the microglial-induced neurotoxicity and mitochondrial damage cause by the vaccine.

A great number of studies have shown that activating the systemic immune system repetitively worsens neurological disorders caused by other things and can initiate neurodegeneration itself, that is prolonged. The inflammatory cytokines interact with glutamate receptors to dramatically increase excitotoxic damage. We know that autistic children have elevated CSF and blood levels of glutamate, which confirms the presence of the excitotoxic process.

Basically, what we see is a process triggered by sequential, massive vaccination that primes and then activates the brain microglial/astrocytic system, triggering the release of massive amounts of inflammatory cytokines, chemokines and excitotoxins. This suppresses the mitochondria and the resulting energy loss further worsening the excitotoxic damage. Because of continued immune activation systemically, both by food allergies and natural infections, the brain’s immune system remains in an active state, leading to suppression of brain pathway development and neural function. This is why the change in the vaccine policy beginning in the mid-1980s, triggered the epidemic of autism. The mercury just aggravated the process.

I warned a number of people and published my warning, that removing the mercury from vaccines would not stop the high incidence of autism, because it was just part of the picture. We must also appreciate that there are a great number of sources of mercury besides vaccine-mainly environmental and from dental amalgam.

For more information on this mechanism you can read my original articles on my website –www.russellblaylockmd.com. Also I have written more papers on my website under the heading -Information. All the information is free. I have several newer articles appearing in Medical Veritas and the Journal of Alternative Therapeutics in Health and Medicine.

Russell L. Blaylock, M.D.

http://www.ageofautism.com/2008/04/dr-blaylock-on.html

http://www.whale.to/v/Aspartame_Truth.pdf

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Mike: I see. Here's an off-the-wall question: If MSG and all its different versions, as well as aspartame,
were outlawed tomorrow, what changes would we see in the next five years in terms of public health?



Dr. Blaylock: I think you'd see a significant drop in obesity and metabolic syndrome. You'd see a
tremendous drop in certain cancers. You would certainly see a tremendous drop in the neurodegenerative
diseases, and all of these diseases that are increasing expeditiously.
The neurodegenerative diseases are just exploding. Things that used to be rare, we're seeing all the
time now. It's just frightening. And when you look through the neurosciences literature, they have
no explanation. They don't know why it's increasing so rapidly, but it's because we have such a large
combination of toxins. For instance, we know that neurodegenerative diseases are connected to
mercury, aluminum, pesticides and herbicides, and the way they produce brain damage is through an
excitotoxic mechanism.
So, we are all exposed to those toxins, and then when you add MSG and excitotoxins to the food,
you tremendously accelerate this toxicity. That's why we're seeing this explosion in neurodegenerative
diseases; Alzheimer's and autism and ADD and Parkinson's—all these things are increasing so
enormously because we are exposed to products that are excitotoxic..
This is what no one's been able to explain. You look at one person's research and they'll say, "Alzheimer's
is related to mercury exposure," and then another one says, "No, it's related to pesticides," and yet
another one says it something else, but they're all operating through the same mechanism. All of these
things operate by increasing brain immune activity, and that activates excitotoxicity. So that's why all
of them seem to be related, because they're all doing the same thing to the brain.


Mike: What about the American Diabetes Association? Given that aspartame actually promotes
obesity, based a lot of the work you've uncovered, I find it curious that the ADA so strongly
supports aspartame.


Dr. Blaylock: I don't, considering they receive huge amounts of money from the makers of aspartame.
They fund their walk-a-thon and all that kind of stuff, so they get tremendous amounts of money from
the makers of aspartame, and money talks.
Whether they're just deluding themselves and choosing not to believe it's toxic, refusing to look at the
evidence, or they're just concerned about the money and could care less, I don't know, but when you look
at the pathophysiology of diabetes and the effect of aspartame, it's absolute nonsense for anybody who has
diabetes to be on aspartame. Particularly in a neurological aspect, it's going to make it a lot worse.

http://www.whale.to/v/Aspartame_Truth.pdf

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Alternative Treatments for Neurological Diseases
[updated June 2003]

Be sure to read the testimony of Dr. Boyd Haley on the connection between mercury and Alzheimer's disease. He testified before a Congressional hearing on dental mercury May 8th 2003.

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Conventional medicine has little to offer for a cure of neurological diseases. Alternative medicine does offer some hope if the condition is caught early.

In the book Prescription for Nutritional Healing, Phyllis A. Balch, certified nutritional counselor and James F. Balch, MD state:

(this is the book I have used for the past 10 years - itis now reprinted with new information in the Orange colored edition. sincerely -tena)

Alzheimer's disease may be caused by nutritional deficiencies. For example people with Alzheimer's tend to have low levels of vitamin B12 and zinc in their bodies. The B vitamins are important in cognitive functioning, and it is well known that the processed foods constituting so much of the modern diet have been stripped of these essential nutrients. The elderly also have malabsorption problems, also making them prone to nutritional deficiencies.

Also levels of the antioxidant vitamins A and E and the carotenoids (including beta-carotene) are also low in people with Alzheimer's disease. These nutrients act as free radical scavengers; deficiencies may expose the brain cells to increased oxidative damage. In addition, deficiencies of boron, potassium, and selenium have been found in people with Alzheimer's disease.

Brains of people with Alzheimer's disease have been found to contain higher than normal concentrations of the toxic metal mercury. For most people, the release of mercury from dental amalgams is the primary means of mercury exposure, and a direct correlation has been demonstrated between the amount of inorganic mercury in the brain and the number of amalgam surfaces in the mouth. Mercury from dental amalgam passes into body tissues, and it accumulates in the body over time. Mercury exposure, especially from dental amalgams, cannot be excluded as a major contributor to Alzheimer's disease.

Many people who develop Alzheimer's disease have a family history of the disorder, suggesting that heredity may be involved. By age ninety, the risk is at least 50 percent for those with a first-degree relative (father, mother, brother, sister) who has (or had) Alzheimer's disease. The equivalent rate is about 50 percent for identical twins.
Dr. Hal Huggins, who lost his license to practice dentistry in Colorado because he spoke out against the use of mercury in dentistry, states that if you have mercury in your mouth and you become poisoned by it that it will affect you wherever you have the genetic disposition marker for illness. If Alzheimer's runs in your family, your mercury toxicity will be expressed in the disease Alzheimer's. If your family has a history of arthritis, your mercury toxicity may show up in arthritis. Mercury goes to the weakest point in the body.

I had a whiplash from a carwreck in 1990. When I became mercury poisoned, I started experiencing muscle pain right in the area where I had the whiplash. The other muscles were not sore, just the muscles involved with the whiplash. Other people become sore all over their bodies when they become toxic with mercury or other heavy metals and chemical toxins and are diagnosed with fibromyalgia.

So what do you do if you have Alzheimer's? Quickly get the patient to an alternative doctor belonging to ACAM. These doctors know how to prescribe the appropriate supplements for nutritional deficiencies in the elderly or with those with Alzheimer's. An ACAM doctor will also probably suggest EDTA chelation to clean toxins out of the body, and to open up arteries leading to the brain. EDTA is not an effective chelator for mercury.

I believe one reason my mother in law has some dementia and has to live with us is because she probably has iron in her brain. Dr. Mercola has an article on his site about increased dementia and the overload of iron in the body.

We did not know that heavy metals in water could lead to dementia. My mother in law lived in the Jordantown area of Bedford County. Jordantown is loaded with iron in the water. When she came to live in our home, her underwear had turned yellow from washing her clothes in irony water. She started using a pitcher that had a filter on it for her drinking water, but was using tap water for cooking. And just think of all the years she and her husband used cloudy water! I never did like to drink their water because it had a bitter taste.

Now that I understand the dangers of iron in the water, I only wish we could have placed a water filter on her water supply. We did place the filter just before we sold the house. My mother in law could take treatments to remove the iron. This is done with EDTA chelation at clinics of ACAM doctors. A patient is hooked up to an IV for 3 to 4 hours and a substance is dripped into the veins. This would remove iron from her brain and in the process would also unstop her carotid arteries in her neck that go to her brain. Clogged arteries going to the brain also lead to dementia. But my mother in law is 84 now, does not have a lot of money for alternative treatments, has already sold her home, and her veins that would be used by the IV are very small. At this point we will not pursue EDTA chelation therapy.

However, if your elderly person does have some money to spend (approximately $4000 for a complete 30 sessions of EDTA chelation), and does have good veins in the arm, and doesn't want to loose his house to the nursing home, I would suggest they investigate EDTA chelation and vitamin supplementation with an ACAM doctor. It is cheaper to pay for alternative medicine than to loose your home when you have to pay for live-in help. It is also cheaper than having the nursing home force you to sell your home so you can live your golden years in an institution.

http://www.mercurypoisoned.com/new/alternative.html

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Board Certified neurologist Dr. David Perlmutter has written a book

BrainRecovery.com.

He has chapters on many neurological diseases including Alzheimer's. Dr. Perlmutter is an ACAM doctor. He talks about the role of homocysteine in the diseases of Alzheimer's and vascular dementia. The correct supplements can stabilize the homocysteine level. Your traditional doctor will probably not check you for homocysteine levels and if he does he probably doesn't know the proper supplements that are needed to help homocysteine levels. Dr. Perlmutter discusses the ineffectiveness of prescription drugs for Alzheimer's.

Dr. Perlmutter also warns that prescription drug L-dopa for Parkinson's actually makes Parkinson's worse in the long run since it causes an increase in free radical production and thus speeds up the progression of the illness, causing patients to worsen more quickly. Permutter states that glutathione is necessary for detoxing in the brains of Parkinson's patients and their levels are always low in glutathione. He has a special intravenous treatment of glutathione for Parkinson's. Dr. Castro at the Mount Rogers Clinic at Troutdale, VA also uses this treatment for Parkinson's patients. The glutathione treatments are started at the clinic and then the patient can administer it himself at home.

Dr. Perlmutter also warns of the dangers of electromagnetic radiation from computers and cell phones on the brain. Dr. Perlmutter is well respected among both traditional and alternative physicians and has the Perlmutter Health Center in Naples, Florida. For more information on Dr. Perlmutter go to The Burning Brain, Its Cause and Its Cure.


The website http://www.truthinlabeling.com has extensive information on MSG and its different names used in labeling.


www.dams.cc
toxicteeth.net
amalgam.org
www.iaomt.org