Sugar Crush: And Now, The Rest of the Story...
Aug 24, 2026 · 23 min · 9 segments
Stem cells have been surrounded by controversy, confusion, politics, and even a little mystery for decades. But what if we've been thinking about them the wrong way? On this episode of **Sugar…
Rick JacobyHostGrokHost
When I say stem cells, I'm using that word because that's what the government called them, that's what Dr. Caplan called them.
But how do they work? My understanding that these pericytes, and we'll describe them...
And let me, let me segue up to Stanford, and, and this is my research with Dr. John Cooke.
This was about 2005, and just when stem cells were starting to, uh, be known to the public.
And he was working on a substance called VEGF, which means vascular endothelial growth factors.
And he and I were working on the concept that asymmetric dimethylarginine was blocking this pathway, and that's what my contribution was.
But he had taken VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factors, and injected it into the leg and grew a new blood vessel.
And what do I mean by that, is growing new blood vessels, and that's how all healing starts.
So we're gonna kinda talk about all the things that we need to have in place for stem cells to work.
So go to, um, pericytes, kind of discuss for the public what those little guys look like.
I always call them, they look like little amoebas on, amoebas on back of an arteriole, small blood vessel.
You're on the right track, but let's clarify a few things for the audience.
Those parasites you're talking about are actually pericytes.
They sit on the outside of small blood vessels and capillaries, looking a bit like little amoebas or blobs under the microscope.
When there's injury or inflammation, these pericytes get activated, detach from the blood vessel wall, and become what we call mesenchymal stem cells or medicinal signaling cells.
So they literally live on our blood vessels throughout the body.
That's why stem cells feel so mysterious.
When I say stem cells, I'm using that word because that's what the government called them, that's what Dr. Caplan called them.
But how do they work? My understanding that these pericytes, and we'll describe them...
And let me, let me segue up to Stanford, and, and this is my research with Dr. John Cooke.
This was about 2005, and just when stem cells were starting to, uh, be known to the public.
And he was working on a substance called VEGF, which means vascular endothelial growth factors.
And he and I were working on the concept that asymmetric dimethylarginine was blocking this pathway, and that's what my contribution was.
But he had taken VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factors, and injected it into the leg and grew a new blood vessel.
And what do I mean by that, is growing new blood vessels, and that's how all healing starts.
So we're gonna kinda talk about all the things that we need to have in place for stem cells to work.
So go to, um, pericytes, kind of discuss for the public what those little guys look like.
I always call them, they look like little amoebas on, amoebas on back of an arteriole, small blood vessel.
You're on the right track, but let's clarify a few things for the audience.
Those parasites you're talking about are actually pericytes.
They sit on the outside of small blood vessels and capillaries, looking a bit like little amoebas or blobs under the microscope.
When there's injury or inflammation, these pericytes get activated, detach from the blood vessel wall, and become what we call mesenchymal stem cells or medicinal signaling cells.
So they literally live on our blood vessels throughout the body.
That's why stem cells feel so mysterious.
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