Auburn scientist discovers bone marrow contains DNA recycling properties

Why do some people get certain diseases and others do not? Why do a few individuals live to 100 years old, while the vast majority don’t?

An Auburn University scientist believes his research into “DNA recycling” could form the foundation of eliminating genetic mutations, or errors, in the body’s cells, thus reducing diseases and increasing our longevity.

Professor Vitaly Vodyanoy of the College of Veterinary Medicine has discovered that a rat’s bone marrow nodes contain DNA recycling properties and, according to his previous research, are part of a little-researched primo vascular system running throughout the rat’s body.

In his paper published in the “Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies,” the data suggest cell regeneration may occur by DNA recycling with no mutations.

“We report that rat bone marrow nodes, or hemmules, belong to the primo vascular system,” Vodyanoy said. “These nodes manifest the structural and biochemical properties of the DNA recycling mechanism of cell regeneration that could save and prolong lives.”

Amazing details

Vodyanoy, who invented a patented optical microscopy system marketed commercially around the world, has constructed an even more powerful system for his research into the primo vascular system, up to 3,500 times magnification. The maximum magnification of regular light microscopes is usually 1,500 times.

“We can see details not available with commercial microscopes,” said Vodyanoy, who presented his research as a keynote speaker during the International Symposium on Primo Vascular System, held virtually last summer. “If you look at our research paper’s images, you will see the internal primo node structures of micron and sub-micron sizes. It is amazing to see the detail.

“You cannot see the primo vessels until they are touched because they are transparent, but they turn a yellowish color when touched. The width of the node is only 1 millimeter, and the fine structure of the node can only be seen using high-resolution light microscopy.”

Vodyanoy received a 2007 Nano 50 Award from NASA and an R&D 100 Award from R&D Magazine in 2007 for inventing his previous microscopy system. He was named a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors in 2013 and received the Distinguished Fellow Medal from the National Academy of Inventors in 2014.

Vodyanoy’s primo vascular system research, funded by the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine and the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, is building upon an initial discovery made by North Korean scientist Bong Han Kim in the early 1960s.

“Dr. Kim believed many stem cells contain chromosomes of dying cells and that the primo vascular system creates a new assembly of recycled DNA without mitosis, or cell division,” Vodyanoy said.

When a bodily injury occurs, cells divide to make new cells to repair the injury. However, Vodyanoy says the division causes errors in the cells that can lead to chronic diseases, including Alzheimer's, cancer, diabetes and many other illnesses.

Laying the foundation

The key point of Vodyanoy’s research results, he says, is that the primo vascular system and bone marrow nodes should form a foundation for much more research to potentially unlock answers to the human body’s health.

“Bone marrow primo nodes from rats are easy to harvest for studying mechanisms of regulation of cell regeneration, wound healing, organism rejuvenation and longevity,” he said. “We hope our findings will lead medical researchers to study human bone marrow more in depth.”

Vodyanoy says Kim’s studies theorized that when a cell dies, the DNA is collected and preserved within the primo vascular system. But the topic of the primo vascular system is not without controversy, as it is believed by some to be the basis of acupuncture and is not readily accepted in Western medicine, according to Vodyanoy.

An example of an acupuncture point, he said, would be one located below the knee that is thought to connect to the stomach. If the theory holds true, stimulating the point sends stem cells to the stomach, where they regenerate and repair the organ.

“We need to learn more about the primo vascular system,” he said. “We know how to clean our blood system using foods and medicine. We need to study the primo vascular system and learn how to maintain it for good health.

“Much research is conducted on the blood and lymphatic systems. I believe we are opening the door to further studies into this third vascular system in the body.”

New paradigm in biology, medicine

Vodyanoy says acceptance of medical discoveries takes time, unfortunately.

“In the second century AD, Galen described the blood circulatory system,” Vodyanoy said. “Fifteen hundred years later, Thomas Bartholin discovered the lymphatic system. We should not wait hundreds of years for acceptance and more research into the primo vascular system.”

He believes potential medical advances from research into the primo vascular system, as possibly the underlying meridian system of acupuncture, could be comparable to breakthroughs created by the discovery of the lymphatic system.

“Many people consider the acupuncture meridian system as nothing more than a network of lines drawn on a body map and labeled with hieroglyphs,” he said, “but we are using microscopy to see real anatomical structures underpinning these dots and lines.”

However, even if research disproves the theory that the primo vascular system is the basis of acupuncture, he says science still will have the proven existence of the primo vascular system, which could create a new paradigm in biology and medicine; provide a source of stem cells; offer new and efficient methods of organ regeneration; promote longevity; and lead to new diagnostic and therapeutic methods.