Making Tears Part 4

Ah, Sir Lyse. Lysozyme is an enzyme that dissolves the sugary protection around bacteria and causes them to dissolve or “lyse.” I think of that sugary protection as a kind of chainmail mantle, since it is designed to allow some bacterial needs in and bacterial bad things out - but otherwise protect like a chainmail mesh can do. This mesh is the foundation of the bacterial cell wall, the protective envelope those wicked little assassins have as their best defense. Like the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz, once the protective “spell” of this chainmail is lost, the bacteria is “melted” - like pouring a bucket of water did to her. As you can see from the table below, tears contain the greatest amount of “Sir Lyse” compared to many other natural sources.

Table 1 (from Nawaz N, Wen S, Wang F, Nawaz S, Raza J, Iftikhar M, Usman M. Lysozyme and Its Application as Antibacterial Agent in Food Industry. Molecules. 2022 Sep 24;27(19):6305. doi: 10.3390/molecules27196305. PMID: 36234848; PMCID: PMC9572377.Selected sources of lysozyme.)

Source of Lysozyme Amount of Lysozyme

Tears 3000–5000 µg/mL

Chicken egg white 2500–3500 µg/mL

Duck egg white 1000–1300 µg/mL

Goose egg white 500–700 µg/mL

Human milk 55-75 µg/mL

Cow milk 10–15 µg/mL

Cauliflower juice 25–28 µg/mL

Cabbage juice 7–8 µg/mL

Papaya juice 9 µg/mL

Spleen 50–160 mg/kg

Thymus 60–80 mg/kg

Pancreas 20–35 mg/kg

According to this same article, “Lysozyme is an important part of the innate immune system and exhibits strong antimicrobial activities against bacterial, fungal, and viral pathogens. It protects against infections, acts as a natural antibiotic, and enhances the efficacy of other antibiotics, while it also strengthens the immune system.” This sounds a bit like Sir Lact (Lactoferrin) - and helps us understand how, when mankind was living in dirty caves and hovels, we (through this roundtable of shining knights) were able to sustain ourselves against the many diseases that would otherwise have wiped us out. (Interesting that even plants like cabbages and cauliflowers can contain some amount of Sir Lyse - and how, at some basic biological level, our tears reflect eons of evolution that. even include the plants we also survive on).

Further, “The protein was suggested to conduce to the destruction of tumors, as it modulates the synthesis of the tumor necrosis factor (TNFα) and also stimulates the production of Type I interferon (INFα, INFβ, INFγ), interleukin-2 (II-2) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) by human lymphocytes [7]. In the current pandemic of the coronavirus, some modified form of lysozyme can be used to stimulate the formation of interferon, an effective substance against coronavirus, and thus reduce the risk of the life-threatening form of COVID-19 up to 79% [8,9].”

Apart from Sir Lyse, Sir Lacto and our antibodies, we have other “protectors of the realm,” including tear-specific prealbumin (TSP or lipocalin) and peroxidase. Add to that the natural “washing function” of blinking away old, dirty tears and replacing them with fresh, healthy tears and we have a robust defense system. Even as pathogens evolve to take us down by “getting smarter and better armed” - so we too can rely on our defenses to evolve - and, with modifications, keep up with these tiny infidels, assassins and assorted mercenary troops. Eyes are precious and it’s good to know we can protect them with our tears (and with our strides in science that allow us to create medicines, vaccines and strategies that can aid our innate defenses).

To schedule an appointment with Dr. Jaccoma, call Excellent Vision at either of these two dry eye offices:

(1) 155 Griffin Rd, Portsmouth, NH 03801 (603) 574-2020

(2) 3 Woodland Rd, STE 112 Stoneham, MA 02180 (near Boston) (781) 321-6463