For Patients
How ProThelial Works
PROTHELIAL™ DEVICE MECHANISM OF ACTION – FOR MUCOSA-BASED PAIN, NAUSEA,
VOMITING & DIARRHEA
The surface “pockets” of restrictive micro-environs created by ProThelial’s unique
layering probably affect the flux of ions across mucosal receptors responsible for
pain, nausea, vomiting and neuro-secretory diarrhea. These specialized mucosal receptors
triggered by chemoradiation maintain their state of activation by means of gated-ion
fluxes across surface membranes that face the lumen of the gut. It is probable that the
same restrictive micro-environs that crowd growth factors to the vicinity of their
receptors also affect the surrounding space available to membranes for ion-flux and
exchange. Spatial limitation of the immediate surface environment surrounding ion-gated
receptors along the GI tract impact the receptor’s ability to perpetuate the ion fluxes
required to keep the receptor “turned on” or stimulated. Physically restrictive
micro-environs surrounding membranes of stimulated receptors exhaust the ions immediately
available to it. This limits the ability of the receptor to stay “on”. The result is the
quiescence of the membrane and the reduction of receptor-associated pain, nausea
(thereby vomiting) and neurosecretory diarrhea, all of which are triggered by
chemoradiation therapy.