Currently, the blood color of most known organisms in the world is basically red or dark red, just like our human blood is red. This is because our blood is rich in hemoglobin, and their biggest function is to transport oxygen , so they are very important to each of us. Because the blood contains them, our blood will appear red ( arterial blood is bright red, and arterial blood is dark red). But the magical craftsmanship of nature always makes people shine. There is a species that appeared earlier on Earth than humans - horseshoe horseshoe horses [hòu]. They appeared in the age of dinosaurs. What is incredible is that their blood is actually blue!
However, although his blood is blue, it does not affect some diners' eating them and pumping their blood for medical treatment. This is probably the most pitiful aquatic animal in the world. It has reproduced for 480 million years, even older than dinosaurs. Long time ago, fishermen often caught it by the sea to make delicious “food and drink.” Now, it is also used by humans to draw blood “crazy”. Various signs suggest that the price of a noble lineage will soar again. Due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the price of this blood has soared to 100,000 yuan per liter. Many scientific research institutions and pharmaceutical companies have called out: I can’t afford it!
The medical value of horseshoe crab is very high. In July 2020, Delonsa, Switzerland, began producing COVID-19 vaccines for human clinical trials. However, if the vaccine enters the U.S. market, it must be tested with reagents made of horseshoe crab blood. In fact, in 2013, EU approved the use of recombinant factor rFC as a virus detection reagent, but the United States refused to admit that if you want Americans to inject your vaccine, you must use LAL reagent for testing. So, what kind of magical creature is a horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horseshoe horse What's special about it?
In the Paleozoic Devonian about 400 million years ago, it was earlier than dinosaurs. At that time, the forest had just appeared on the land and there were no plant-eating animals. In the ocean, the Deng family's fish occupy the supreme position. The shark's ancestor, the Rift Valley Shark, was hiding, the number of trilobites, , began to retreat to the "second line", and the ancestors of horse hoofed species began to take the stage of history. After 400 million years of ups and downs, the appearance of horseshoe crabs was frozen in the Jurassic, about 200 million years ago.
After that, it seems to have fallen into a "dead end" of the ecological niche, and there has not changed much since then, so it is also called a "living fossil". The horseshoe crab looks like a crab and wears a hard blue-brown horseshoe vest. But it has nothing to do with crabs. Instead, it is associated with spiders, scorpions and long-extinct trilobites. Because horseshoe crabs have thick and hard armor, they move slowly and have very little meat content, they have evolved into useless, unpalatable, and non-threatening appearances. This is to make their natural enemies feel that they are harmless and let them go, so that they can survive from Jurassic until now.
At present, horseshoe crabs are mainly distributed in coastal areas of Asia and North America, such as India, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia , as well as coastal areas of Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian, the coast of Maine in the United States and Yucatan Peninsula . In 1956, Fred studied the role of a horseshoe crab in the blood circulation system and found that the death of a horseshoe crab is very sad. It is a whole-body coagulation gel. After testing, it was found that due to the large area of Gram-negative bacteria, according to previous experience, Gram-positive bacteria does not have special skills to coagulate the blood, which aroused the interest of researchers like Fred.
Through repeated experiments and repeated research, Fred discovered the unique ability of horseshoe crab blood. The endotoxin produced on the bacterial cell wall stimulates special enzymes in the blood of horseshoe crabs, causing blood to clotting. The blue color of horseshoe crab blood comes from the combination of copper ion and oxygen. The copper ions oxidize to blue and transport oxygen in the body. In addition to horseshoe crabs, the blood of the octopus is also blue. Based on this feature, the horseshoepius reagent was developed.This biological reagent is very sensitive, and the concentration of bacterial endotoxin in the test solution is only one trillionth. The clavicle reagent can gel the clavicle solution, which makes the clavicle reagent outstanding in medical treatment.
博安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安� Therefore, the demand for horseshoe crab blood is increasing every year. Now the demand for horseshoe crabs has reached 500,000 each year, but the number of horseshoe crabs around the world is decreasing year by year. Currently, the demand for lysates exceeds 10 million per year, which means at least 100,000 pairs of lysates need to be prepared. The number of horseshoe crabs around the world is getting smaller and smaller. In order to save the medical use of horseshoe crabs, people have explored some techniques: each horseshoe crab can collect up to 1/3 of the total blood volume, and then release the horseshoe crabs into the sea, waiting for their "full blood to resurrect."
Research shows that horseshoe crabs have strong hematopoietic functions, and about 7-14 celestial bodies can recover blood. Despite this, these horseshoe crabs will die within 48 hours after being drawn from blood, and 10% to 15% of horseshoe crabs will die directly during the blood draw. Worryingly, the mortality rate soared to more than 30% in 2010. In addition, scientists have found that crabs that draw blood back to the sea are still active, but their reproductive ability has decreased by 50%.
In just over 30 years, the resources of horseshoe crab reagent in my country have undergone tremendous changes. The number of horseshoe crab dissolving substances in Beibu Gulf of Guangxi has been reduced by more than 90%.
In order to recycle horseshoe crab resources, in 1993, horseshoe crabs were listed as a key protected aquatic wildlife in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. After 2014, horseshoe crabs proliferated and released in the North Bay area. In addition, with the North Bay area as a base, horseshoe crab seedlings are provided to Guangdong, Fujian, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other places, and 25 observation points have been established successively.
htmlFor more than 0 years, the production of Pingtan Island's horseshoe crab reagent "dominates" China's number one. However, around 2000, because Fujian people like to take horseshoe crab reagent, it was difficult to find another horseshoe crab reagent on Pingtan Island. At present, the relevant departments of Pingtan County and Fuzhou City have continuously increased the protection and investment of horseshoe crab reagent, and have achieved certain results, but there is still a long way to go to achieve the annual output.
