The LIVING MATRIX

THE LIVING MATRIX
R. Paul Lee, DO, FAAO, FCA

Orlando, FL
March 23, 2013
What I want to say today
Describe a model for PRM in the

extracellular matrix.
Discuss the role of cells, water and

connective tissue.
Connective Tissue
Bones
Joints
Ligaments
Muscles
Connective Tissue
Fascia
Extracellular Matrix
Cytoskeleton
Extracellular Matrix
• Also known as the Ground Substance or
“Matrix”
• Additional info:
1. Lee, RP (2001). The primary respiratory
mechanism beyond the craniospinal axis.
AAOJ, 11(1):24-34.
2. Lee, RP (2005). Interface: Mechanisms of
Spirit in Osteopathy. Stillness Press.
Histology of the Matrix
• Enmeshed in matrix:
– Cells
– Capillaries
– Nerves
– Lymphatics
Histology of Matrix
• Functions:
– Delivery of nutrients.
– Elimination of waste.
– Communication among cells.
– Intimate connection of all parts of the body.
• Fibroblasts:
– Manufacture matrix components.
– Syncytium
Fibroblasts form
syncytium
Matrix Behaves as a Primitive
Nervous System
Matrix mediates functions for cells.
• Nerves terminate in the matrix not on the

cells.
• Vessels excrete their nutrients into the
matrix not into the cells.
• Lymph originates in the fluid of the
extracellular matrix.
Matrix Displays Immune Function
• Mast cells reside in the matrix.
• Macrophages, PMNs, and lymphocytes pass

through the matrix.
• Detoxification processes occur in the matrix.
• Acidic products of cellular metabolism are

neutralized in the alkaline matrix.
PROTEOGLYCAN
1.Hyaluronan
2.Proteoglycan
a. Core protein
b. Keratin sulfate
c. Chondroitin
sulfate
GAGs and Proteoglycans bind water
forming a gel.
Gabarel and Roques’ theory of the
generation of the PRM
• Based on the amount of free water vs. bound
water in the extracellular matrix.
• When matrix is depolymerized by increased

concentration of electrolytes, water is freed.
• Concentration of electrolytes decreases with

free- and increases with bound-water, creating
oscillating feedback loop.
Phase Transitions
• Most familiar – melting or freezing water.
• Definition: a change in shape, size,

permeability, hardness, chemical and/or
electrical activity.
• Stimuli: change in pH, temperature, salt,

electric field, mechanical stress.
Phase Transitions in Matrix
[Gabarel & Roques]
• Gels are prone to phase transitions.
• A change in viscosity (the state of free or

bound water).
“Injury Potential”
[Nordenström]
• A measurable change in the electric

potential of the tissue when injured.
“Energy Sink”
• Robert Fulford, DO used this term to refer
to areas of tissue that are palpably altered
from trauma.
• A palpatory confirmation of an injury

potential, that is, a palpable mechanical
change that corresponds with an electric
change.
Electric Potentials
in Organs
[Nordenström]
Fluctuation of Polarity in Tissues
[Nordenström]
Fluctuation of polarity is created when an

a. injury potential or
b. physiological polarization
is accompanied by an opposite reaction to
balance the polarity.
As entropy increases in this process,

fluctuation is established.
Characteristics of Fluctuations
[Nordenström]
• Fluctuations occur in the vascular and interstitial

fluids.
• Healing results from ebb and flow of ions.
• Fluctuations occur in injured and normal tissue

and in morphogenesis.
• Oxidation/Reduction reactions occur in the fluids

next to fibrous membranes.
Fluids are Good Conductors
[Nordenström]
Electrical reactions from flows of ions and

electrons occur readily in water because of
a. The characteristics of water itself.
b. Dissolved electrolytes.
c. Dissolved proteins.
“Ionars”
[Nordenström]
• Ionars are groups of ions.
• Collect in the extracellular fluid because of

metabolic activities and local differences in
a. capillary bed circulation
b. matrix properties
c. ionic size and mobility
“Ionars”
[Nordenström]
• Represent an electromotive force.
• Participate in the fluctuation of charge.
• Responsible for actual structural modifications.
• Associated with movement of water.

Pischinger
• Fundamental importance of the ground

substance (matrix) in the extracellular
space.
• All cells, nerves, and vessels are imbedded

in and functionally connected by matrix.
Matrix is Piezoelectric
[Pischinger]
• Vibrations stimulate electric activity and

electric activity stimulates vibrations.
• Vibrations (mechanical stimuli) travel at

the speed of sound through the tissues.
• Electric stimuli travel at the speed of light.

The matrix provides the milieu for
the healthy function of cells.
[Pischinger]
• Disturbances in the matrix are the starting
point of many diseases.
• The matrix is involved in every disease

and in its healing.
• Fundamentally, the same concept as Dr.

Still proposed.
Pischinger Expanded Virchow’s
Hypothesis
• Virchow declared that the cell is the basic unit of
life.
• Pischinger included with the cell, the connective

tissue (matrix), capillary bed, and lymphatics as
the basic unit of life.
• Dr. Still proposed same concept with his idea of

“biogen.”
Szent Gyorgyi
Fibers and
proteins are
semiconductors
Shininess of connective tissue
[Oschman]
• Shininess of connective tissue at surgery

indicates the health of the tissue and the
amount of electrons in the matrix.
• The amount of electrons correlates with

the alkalinity of the tissue and its ability to
quench acidic toxins.
Matrix is a storage compartment
[Pischinger]
• The matrix holds toxins until they can be

disposed of.
• At night when the body is at rest, the

lymph and blood clear the matrix and
deliver toxins to the liver for disposal.
Matrix is an open system
[Pischinger]
• Open systems are subject to energetic and

material influences from outside.
• Parenchymal cells, immune cells, nerve cells,

and blood capillaries all influence the matrix
driving an oscillatory mechanism.
• GAGs and proteoglycans are changed in specific

ways by all these influences.
Matrix and Cell Membrane
[Pischinger]
Glycocalyx and Cytoskeleton
[Pischinger]
• Glycocalyx transfers
input from the
extracellular matrix
into the mechanisms
of the cell even down
to the genes.
• Matrix influences cell

growth, cell division,
and cell movement.
Water carries information
[Pischinger]
“Fluids, Matter in Motion”
• Lee (2002), Fluids, Matter in Motion,

Cranial Letter, volumes 55 and 56.
Biodynamics
[Pischinger]
• Biodynamics: Transformation between

energy and mass.
• A clear example of biodynamics is the

energy flow between the sugar
biopolymers (GAGs and proteoglycans)
and water in the matrix.
Biodynamics
[Pischinger]
• Spontaneously generating patterns that

spread themselves through the matrix are
an expression of life-retaining interactions
between matter and energy.
Etheric Body
[Pischinger]
• Matrix is physical aspect of etheric body, the

energetic aspect of which provides pattern to
form physical body.
• The matrix is the interface of the material and

etheric bodies – biodynamics.
• Dr. Fulford emphasized working with the etheric

body.
Summary of three books
• Matrix is where the action is.
• It is both changeable and stable.
• Influences from cells, nerves, vessels and lymph all

mingle.
• Matrix gives direction to cell’s functioning.
• Redox reactions occur routinely along fibrous and

cellular membranes in the fluids.
Summary of books
• Matrix is naturally a gel blocking the passage of
substances unless its viscosity is reduced.
• Alterations of viscosity occur from changes in

pH, temperature, electric fields, mechanical
stress, and electrolyte concentration.
• Matrix is characterized by varying viscosity,

changing charges, and fluxes of fluids and ions.
Summary of books
• Information is carried in the matrix
by the structure of water
by patterns of sugar polymers
by patterns of dissolved substances.
• Information is transmitted instantaneously
• Matrix integrates entire system.

Summary
• Injury to tissue changes the electro-mechanical
quality of the matrix.
• Flows of ions and water are the means by which

healing occurs.
• Biodynamic transformations between energy and

matter occur with changing patterns in sugar
polymers and water.
Summary
• Matrix represents the etheric body in the

physical form.
Matrix is Osteopathic
• Matrix expresses unity (unifies whole body and
represents the etheric body).
• Its structure and function are reciprocally interrelated.

(As viscosity changes so does function.)
• Its substance contains all the necessary resources for

maintenance and healing. (Acts as a nervous, immune,
detox, and storage system. Delivers information from
chemicals, nerves, water, patterns of GAGs, etc.)
• Treating the matrix is osteopathic.

Yuri Moskalenko, D.Sc.
• Bioimpedence measures fluctuating fluids
of the brain tissue.
• Dopplerography measures changes in

arterial blood flow.
• These both show obvious fluctuations in

cranium.
Boris Vern, MD, PhD
• Measured oscillations of oxidative

metabolism in the brain cortex.
• Neurons that have increased oxidative

metabolism are actively working.
• Same cells have increased cellular volume.

Berridge & Rapp
• Among many cellular oscillations cited,

oscillations of the concentration of
secondary messengers – cyclic AMP and
calcium ions – occur at rates that are
compatible with the Tide.
(Berridge & Rapp, A comparative survey of the function, mechanism
and control of cellular oscillators. J Exp Biol, 81:221-224.)
Calcium Waves
• Overwhelming number of references in the
scientific literature about calcium ion fluxes.
• Multiple rates of calcium waves stimulate

intracellular functions.
• An extracellular flux of calcium ions occurs at a

rate consistent with the PRM.
Calcium and the Matrix
• As calcium ion concentration increases in the
matrix with the calcium wave, the proteoglycans’
bonds with hyaluronan break.
• Bound water is freed to flow as the matrix

depolymerizes.
• This fits Gabarel & Roques’ model, what

Nordenström implied, and what Pischinger
predicted.
Calcium Wave
Counterions
• Movement of calcium ions is accompanied by a
balancing movement of opposite charge –
electrons – in the proteins.
• Proteins are semiconductors and share electrons

that are free to move.
• Ions flow in water; electrons flow in proteins.

Tensegrity
• Tissue tensegrity system is composed of the
extracellular matrix, integrins, and cytoskeleton.
• Mechanical (vibrational) information, transferred

via the integrins from the matrix to the
cytoskeleton, changes the cell’s shape and
influences the expression of DNA.
(Pienta & Coffey (1991). Cellular harmonic information transfer
through a tissue tensegrity-matrix system. Med Hypoth, 34:88-95.)
Tensegrity
• Magnets attached to integrins showed that

twisting them altered cytoskeletal
arrangement and metabolism.
(Wang, Butler, & Ingber (1993). Mechanotransduction across the
cell surface and through the cytoskeleton. Science, 260:1124-1127.)
Mechanotransduction
• Expression of enzyme systems can be

altered by mechanically approximating
enzyme chains attached to microtubules in
the cytoskeleton.
Cell Contraction
• Calcium ion binds to integrins (membrane

receptor) and causes cell contraction.
• Integrins cause contraction of

microfilaments (actin).
Terminal lymph channel
Theoretic Model – Lymphatics
• Microfilaments outside the cell support the lymphatic capillary
endothelial cells.
• With the calcium wave, microfilaments contract, thus opening the

fenestrations between the endothelial cells allowing free water to
enter.
• After the calcium wave, the fenestrations close, thus trapping water
inside the terminal lymphatic channel.
• With the next calcium wave, more water enters the terminal
capillary forcing the previous water to move proximally along the
lymph channel.
Theoretic Model – Blood Vessels
• The gel phase of the matrix osmotically

draws more water from the capillary bed
to resupply the matrix.
Model – Summary
• Thus, we have a theoretical model for

fluctuations in the tissues involving:
– Extracellular matrix
– Parenchymal cells
– Capillary bed
– Lymphatics
Model – Summary
• Nutrients and waste products must cross

the no-man’s land of the normally
gelatinous matrix.
• Only the forces for life can permit this

through two emissaries, calcium and
water.
Summary of Model

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R. Paul Lee, DO, FAAO, FCA

Describe a model for PRM in the

Discuss the role of cells, water and

• Nerves terminate in the matrix not on the

• Mast cells reside in the matrix.

• Macrophages, PMNs, and lymphocytes pass

• Detoxification processes occur in the matrix.

• Acidic products of cellular metabolism are

• When matrix is depolymerized by increased

• Concentration of electrolytes decreases with

• Definition: a change in shape, size,

• Stimuli: change in pH, temperature, salt,

• Gels are prone to phase transitions.

• A change in viscosity (the state of free or

• A measurable change in the electric

• A palpatory confirmation of an injury

Fluctuation of polarity is created when an

As entropy increases in this process,

• Fluctuations occur in the vascular and interstitial

• Healing results from ebb and flow of ions.

• Fluctuations occur in injured and normal tissue

• Oxidation/Reduction reactions occur in the fluids

Electrical reactions from flows of ions and

• Ionars are groups of ions.

• Collect in the extracellular fluid because of

• Represent an electromotive force.

• Participate in the fluctuation of charge.

• Responsible for actual structural modifications.

• Associated with movement of water.

• Fundamental importance of the ground

• All cells, nerves, and vessels are imbedded

• Vibrations stimulate electric activity and

• Vibrations (mechanical stimuli) travel at

• Electric stimuli travel at the speed of light.

• The matrix is involved in every disease

• Fundamentally, the same concept as Dr.

• Pischinger included with the cell, the connective

• Dr. Still proposed same concept with his idea of

• Shininess of connective tissue at surgery

• The amount of electrons correlates with

• The matrix holds toxins until they can be

• At night when the body is at rest, the

• Open systems are subject to energetic and

• Parenchymal cells, immune cells, nerve cells,

• GAGs and proteoglycans are changed in specific

• Matrix influences cell

• Lee (2002), Fluids, Matter in Motion,

• Biodynamics: Transformation between

• A clear example of biodynamics is the

• Spontaneously generating patterns that

• Matrix is physical aspect of etheric body, the

• The matrix is the interface of the material and

• Dr. Fulford emphasized working with the etheric

• It is both changeable and stable.

• Influences from cells, nerves, vessels and lymph all

• Matrix gives direction to cell’s functioning.

• Redox reactions occur routinely along fibrous and

• Alterations of viscosity occur from changes in