Discoveries like this always makes me wonder, who had the idea to try it and why
Comment on Blueberry milkshakes
Mercival@lemm.ee 11 months agoIt is not an anticoagulant, quite the opposite actually. The blood (limulus amoebocyte lysate) will coagulate at the slightest hint of gram-negative bacteria and their endotoxins.
It’s most likely a defense mechanism against bacterial infections.
It’s widely used in medicine to check for bacterial contamination of injectable pharmaceuticals.
Rubanski@lemm.ee 11 months ago
SpiderShoeCult@sopuli.xyz 11 months ago
wait until you hear about protamines and their medical uses
peopleproblems@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Woah. Are horseshoe crabs like other crustaceans in that they eat pretty much anything including/mostly detritus?
If thats the case, than how would it be beneficial to have blood that coagulates so easily?
Wouldn’t every meal lead to a crab version of a stroke?
Mercival@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Horseshoe crabs are not crusteceans, they are early chelicerates.
They have an open circulatory system, where the blood (heamolymph) freely spills out of the arteries into surrounding tissues, so a small clot probably wouldn’t cause issues. Think of it like a cyst, sometimes if an infection can’t be removed by the immune system, your body will just enclose it in a capsule, so it can’t spread.
peopleproblems@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Ahhh that makes sense. That’s a pretty cool defense system
MeanEYE@lemmy.world 11 months ago
They are not crabs nor crustaceans.
Kedly@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Not a relevant time to be pedantic
MeanEYE@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Well, he asked if they are like other crustaceans, so the answer is they are not crustaceans so no, they are not like others.
Four_lights77@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Probably so it can detect it as quickly as possible for elimination.