Potential Erythropoiesis in the Primo-Vascular System in Heart Failure

Bonghan (primo vascular) system, elucidated by Bong Han Kim: Kim’s findings, later verifications, new findings, and prospective: A review

The Bonghan system (BHS) was discovered in the 1950s by Dr. Bong Han Kim in North Korea. His first report, published in 1962, revealed the identity of ‘acupuncture meridian’ as a vascular system. Kim published five reports, containing completely new facts on BHS: its distribution throughout the entire body, even in blood and lymphatic vessels and self-renovating function via a new cell cycle, demonstrating its fundamental nature in life. In about 1966, Kim’s research abruptly ceased but in about 2000, it was revived by Dr. Kwang-Sup Soh in South Korea, who later gave it another name, primo vascular system (PVS). Soh and other PVS scientists also uncovered new BHS/PVS facts: e.g., its roles in stem cell productions and in cancer metastasis. The review provides a glimpse of BHS/PVS science, which is so worthy of furthering. It includes: BHS and acupuncture meridian; BHS subtypes; sanal (산알)-cell cycle for cell-renovation and blood cell productions; sanals and stem cells; and cancer associated-PVS. The bases of BHS/PVS sciences are now laid out in front of us and it is up to us to combine our efforts together to further this important science. The review invites scientists in all fields to active debates to move forward and implement BHS/PVS sciences in healthcare.

Primo Bundles Identified by Microcomputed Tomography in Primo Vascular Tissue on the Surface of Rat Abdominal Organs

BACKGROUND

The primo vascular system (PVS) is a novel network composed of primo nodes (PNs) and primo vessels (PVs). Currently, its anatomy is not fully understood.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to elucidate the three-dimensional PN-PV structure.

METHODS

Organ-surface PVS tissue was isolated from healthy and anemic rats. The tissues were analyzed by X-ray microcomputed tomography (CT), hematoxylin and eosin staining, and scanning electron microscopy.

RESULTS

From CT images, we identified one or more bundles in a PV. In the PN, the bundles were enlarged and existed in isolation and/or in anastomosis. The transverse CT images revealed four areas of distinct intensities: zero, low, intermediate, and high. The first two were considered to be the sinuses and the subvessels of the PVS and were identified in the hematoxylin and eosin-stained PN sections. The enlargement of the PN from anemic rats was associated with an increase in the intermediate-intensity area. The high-intensity area demarcated the bundle and was overlapped with the mesothelial cells. In scanning electron microscopy, the PV bundles branched out, tapering down to a single bundle at some distance from the PN. Each bundle was composed of several subvessels (∼5 μm). Clustered round microcells (1-25 μm), scattered flat oval cells (∼15 μm), and amorphous extracellular matrix were observed on the surface of the PVS tissue.

CONCLUSIONS

The results newly showed that the primo bundle is a structural unit of both PVs and PNs. A bundle was demarcated by high CT intensity and mesothelial cells and consisted of multiple subvessels. The PN bundles contained also sinuses.

Acute Anemia Induces Erythropoiesis in Rat Organ Surface Primo-Vascular Tissue

The primo-vascular system (PVS) is a newly identified vascular tissue composed of primo-nodes (PNs) and primo-vessels (PVs). Previously, we reported erythropoietic activity in the organ-surface PVS (osPVS) tissue of rats with heart failure. In this study, we further investigated whether acute anemia could induce erythropoiesis in the PVS of rats, based on the hypothesis that erythropoiesis in osPVS tissue is due to anemia accompanying heart failure. Acute anemia was induced by an intraperitoneal injection of phenylhydrazine (PHZ). Circulating red blood cells (RBCs) and hematocrit decreased by 31.6%, whereas reticulocytes and white blood cells increased at day 3 and day 6 after PHZ treatment. All these parameters recovered to control levels at day 10. At days 3 and 6, we observed an increase in the size of the PNs (P < 0.05), the number of the osPVS tissue samples per rat (P < 0.01), and the proportion of osPVS tissue samples with red chromophore (P < 0.001), which was from the RBCs in the PVS tissue. The number of RBCs, estimated from the PN sections stained with hematoxylin and eosin, increased at day 6 in the rats with anemia (P < 0.01). All these anemia-induced changes in the osPVS tissue recovered to the control levels by day 10. Taken together, the results showed that the morphological and cytological changes in the osPVS tissue appear to be related to the erythropoietic activity induced by acute anemia in rats. This study confirmed the previous findings that the osPVS can exert erythropoietic activity in disease states accompanied by anemia, such as heart failure.

Mesothelial Cells Covering the Surface of Primo Vascular System Tissue

The primo vascular system (PVS) is reported to have a periductium composed of cells with spherical or spindle-shaped nuclei and abundant cytoplasm. However, little is known about these periductium cells. In this study, we examined the morphological features of cells covering the PVS tissue isolated from the surface of abdominal organs of rats. By hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, we observed a layer of dark nuclei on the basement membrane at the borders of the sections of primo node (PN), primo vessel (PV), and their subunits. The nuclei appeared thin and linear (10-14 μm), elliptical (8-10 × 3-4 μm), and round (5-7 μm). The borders of the PVS tissue sections were immunostained with a selective antibody for mesothelial cells (MCs). Areas of immunoreactivity overlapped with the flattened cells are shown by hematoxylin and eosin staining. By scanning electron microscopy, we further identified elliptical (11 × 21 μm) and rectangular squamous MCs (length, 10 μm). There were numerous stomata (∼200 nm) and microparticles (20-200 nm) on the surface of the PVS MCs. In conclusion, this study presents the novel finding that the PVS periductium is composed of squamous MCs. These cells tightly line the luminal surface of the PVS tissue, including PNs, PVs, and small branches of the PVs in the abdominal cavity. These results will help us to understand the physiological roles such as hyaluronan secretion and the fine structure of PVS tissue.

Sanal-Cell Cycle and Primo Vascular System: Regeneration via Sanals

The Primo Vascular System (PVS) is new to most scientists despite that it was discovered in the 1960s by Bonghan Kim. Out of the many physiological functions reported, one of the most important PVS functions appears to be its role in the regeneration via a small (~1 μm) subcellular body called 'sanal.' According to Kim, a cell generates multiple sanals and the sanals arriving at the primo nodes (PNs) via primo vessels (PV) eventually produce new cells, by way of the 'Sanal-Cell Cycle.' Sanals express stem cell biomarkers. Appropriately differentiated sanals have been shown to perform non-marrow hematopoiesis and repair damaged tissues. However, many questions on sanals still remain: e.g., how sanals reside in the PN; whether sanals are a new type of stem cells; and how exactly sanals produce cells and/or tissue. Our preliminary studies show that sanals reside inside the sinus formed by sub-PVs in the PNs; and in the PNs, there are more than one form of sanal-originated bodies of various sizes.