In the biomedical industry, horseshoe crabs have been used in eye
research, the manufacture of surgical sutures, and the development of
wound dressings for burn victims. But perhaps most important is the use
of a component of the horseshoe crab’s blood called Limulus Amebocyte
Lysate (LAL), which is essential for the detection of bacterial
endotoxins in drugs and intravenous devices.
The horseshoe crab plays a vital, if little-known, role in the life of
anyone who has received an injectable medication. An extract of the
horseshoe crab's blood is used by the pharmaceutical and medical device
industries to ensure that their products, e.g., intravenous drugs,
vaccines, and medical devices, are free of bacterial contamination.
To manufacture LAL,
companies catch adult horseshoe crabs, collect a portion(1/3) of their
blood, and then release them alive. Although this industry bleeds individuals and then releases
the animals, two studies estimate 10 to 15 percent of animals do not
survive the bleeding procedure, which accounts for the mortality of
20,000 to 37,500 horseshoe crabs per year.
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| Unlike a human's blood, which is red, a horseshoe crab's copper-based blood is blue. - LINK |
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| Bled for LAL(Limulus amebocyte lysate test) - LINK |
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| Photo credit: Courtesy of Thirteen/WNET/PBS - LINK |
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| Photo credit: Jeff Rotman - LINK |
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| A technician removes blood from horseshoe crabs. Photo credit: Andrew J. Martinez/Photo Researchers, Inc. - LINK |
Wow, its amazing to see blood that is of different color. I thought that all blood are red. I thought only aliens have different colored blood.
ReplyDeleteЗначит, крабы аристократы.
ReplyDeleteBruh, that's kind of sad seeing all those horseshoe crabs being drained of their blood.
ReplyDelete