Microvascular Dysfunction and Basal Membrane Thickening in Skeletal Muscle in ME/CFS and Post-COVID, 2025, Slaghekke et al

[Turtle]

He suggested this thicker capillary wall / reduced interior space could be messing with gas exchange into tissue and could be upstream of problems pwME have with muscles. I'm wondering, if this result turns out to be real in muscle, is it possible that the same thing could be wrong with capillaries in the brain?

I really hope that's not happening in the brain.

 

[ScoutB]

I really hope that's not happening in the brain.

It certainly doesn't sound ideal. Am I right in thinking it would be hard to tell? Considering we are only able to find this in muscle by taking biopsies (rather than imagining).

On their EM findings, reduced capillaries, abnormal endothelial cells and basement membrane thickening / duplication I screen-grabbed in post #48 look to replicate findings (not universal in that n=11 cohort)

Slowly collecting my thoughts and writing a response to your reply in the other thread @SNT Gatchaman. In the meantime, I was so foggy when I first read this post I did not realize we now have two studies finding somewhat thickened basement membranes. Is it possible for someone to add the "capillary basement thickness" tag to this thread too? I assume I can't? idk how tagging works

 

[SNT Gatchaman]

Is it possible for someone to add the "capillary basement thickness" tag to this thread too?

Done, although I changed the tag to "capillary thickness" to be a little more generic and save a bit of screen space. It's the term used in Rob Wüst's follow-up opinion paper Skeletal muscle adaptations and post-exertional malaise in long COVID (2024)