2023-06-02 01:05:25
“In general, the topic of the article is not that new and could not be accepted as it is, since almost all the articles in the scientific literature report the serious undesirable and toxic effects of menstrual blood and all its components on the human body. . It is even well known in all religions that menstrual blood and its stem cells are extremely toxic and of very low quality. This blood contains destructive metabolic components with very potent cytotoxic activities. In fact, some women in some cultures use a few drops of its potent, toxic extract to secretly kill their husbands.”
This text is part of the comments received in relation to an article by our research group that was sent in 2021 to a scientific journal. In it we described how to enhance the immunomodulatory effect of stem cells isolated from menstrual blood.
The process of Peer Review Its objective is to guarantee that scientific publications are valid, coherent, rigorous and original. However, the reviewers’ assessment may be influenced by cognitive biases, social constructs, or religious beliefs.
In the case of the aforementioned article, that process failed, but the publisher took no action to justify the behavior of its reviewer. Finally, the study was published in a magazine from another publisher.
Condemned by religions and (bad) science
This story shows that “shame,” “prejudice” and “stigma” are still terms associated with menstruation, and that there are many false myths around her.
For centuries, menstrual blood has been considered dirty and impure. In it Leviticusa book of the Old Testament, can be read: “When the woman has an issue of blood, she will be separated for seven days; and whoever touches it will be unclean until evening.” and the quran judgment: “Menstruation is an impurity.”
In addition to what is mentioned in religious books, several scientific studies also investigated decades ago the possible presence of toxic components in menstrual blood and its impact on different organisms.
In 1923, pharmacologists David I. Macht and Dorothy S. Lubin explained that both menstrual blood and secretions (sweat, saliva, etc.) of menstruating women contain a toxic substance called “menotoxin”, capable of inhibiting the growth of roots and stems of living plants, deteriorating cut flowers and reducing the yeast cell growth.
Soon after, in 1925, Macht allegedly proved that injections of blood serum from menstrual women into rats induced depression, loss of orientation and paralysis.
These theories were confirmed between 1940 and 1945 by O. Watkins Smith and George Van S. Smith, who claimed to have identified the premenstrual or menstrual endometrium as the origin of the potent toxin, capable of killing 95% of rats in which it was injected. Besides, they observed that this toxic substance appeared to be identical to necrosin, isolated from the pleural exudate of dogs with an ongoing inflammatory reaction.
However, Macht, Smith, and Smith did not take into account that bacterial contamination of the rubber balloons used to collect menstrual blood for 24 hours created an environment conducive to the proliferation of bacteria such as staphylococci, streptococci, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and lactobacilli.
In fact, when Bernhard Zondek repeated the Smith and Smith experiments in 1953, prevented the death of rats simply collecting menstrual blood under sterile conditions and administering antibiotics. This is how the mystery was revealed: menotoxin does not exist and therefore does not kill plants or rats or husbands.
A source of stem cells
In the last thirty years, research on stem cells as a therapeutic tool has achieved unexpected achievements. Thanks to their findings, we know that the endometrium, the innermost layer of the uterus, contains stem cells –called mesenchymal cells– that play a fundamental role in its reconstruction after menstruation.
Like bone marrow, adipose, and umbilical cord cells, these stem cells are capable of differentiating into more specialized cell types, such as cartilage, bone, and fat. In addition, they present properties that make them promising candidates for treating immunological or inflammatory diseases.
During menstruation, the endometrium disintegrates and it is possible to isolate mesenchymal cells from menstrual blood by means of a painless, simple, cheap, rapid procedure that does not raise ethical problems. Both menstrual stem cells as the set of soluble factors and extracellular vesicles that they secrete –known as the secretome– have demonstrated their potential both in vitro as live.
Currently, menstrual stem cell transplantation or its secretome is in clinical trials for conditions such as low ovarian responselung damage caused by H7N9 virus infectionthe hepatic cirrhosisthe diabetes mellitus and the covid-19.
What will be the lethal dose of menstrual cells capable of causing harm to married patients? We will find out when the results of the clinical studies are published. In the meantime, let’s keep investigating!
#Menstrual #blood #toxic #heal