Cobalt for leaky gut syndrome (followup to an article in the Crohn's group)
Kofi
<scotty...@amnet.net.au> wrote:
> On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:43:46 -0800, zumone2002 wrote:
>
>
> > "Under normal conditions our gastro-intestinal tract is lined with cells
> > that block the contents of the gut from leaking into the intestine,"
> > explains Professor Cormac Taylor from the UCD Conway Institute,
> > University College Dublin, one of the principal scientists involved in
> > the discovery. "However, when a person is suffering from IBD this
> > barrier is broken and the contents of the gut leak out into surrounding
> > areas." [PMID 18166353] (for those interested)
It's interesting so many people with leaky gut report improvement on
methylcobalamin. B12 (COBALamin) is a rich source of cobalt.
Cobalt chloride is in the same category of prolyl hydroxylase
inhibitors/HIF-1 inducers that dimethyloxalylgycine is - and, I believe,
it's available for human use [PMID 17615150]. In also induces
metallothionein genes [PMID 17706837] which, not so coincidentally, are
also under control of histone deacetylase inhibitors like butyrate.
Individuals with this gut condition often have insufficient
carnitine/butyrate uptake and the combination of carnitine and butyrate
has been effective in this model of colitis [PMID 17065219]. It's also
interesting that cobalt stimulates heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and HSP-70.
A recent paper linked a probiotic strain in the gut to heat shock
protein expression that protects the gut lining. Cobalt may even be an
EPO-mimetic to some extent [PMID 16863591] although this abstract notes
"unsafe consequences, which involve toxic effects on heart, liver,
kidney, thyroid and cancer promotion." Perhaps it's no surprise but EPO
also stimulates metallothionein [PMID 14530512].
Finally, cobalt has direct effects on opioid receptor expression [PMID
7614006] and opioid receptors are screwed up in leaky gut and under
control of both gut bacteria and HDAC inhibitors like butyrate
<http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10808.html>, [PMID 17159985] -
hence the effectiveness of low-dose naltrexone, which upregulates mu
opioid expression (and thus cannabinoid receptor expression), for
autoimmune digestive disorders [PMID 17222320, 17080248].
FYI, these properties of cobalt also make it a promising treatment for
diabetic cardiomyopathy [PMID 17691957] along with molybdenum compounds.
Looks like cobalt even blocks fibrosis under certain circumstances [PMID
17967803].