Mammoth transfusion hope
Thursday September 15th, 2011
Researchers are using the DNA of extinct woolly mammoths to design a powerful new kind of artificial blood, it was revealed last night.
Mammoths
were able to withstand extreme cold - and part of the reason may have
been "anti-freeze" DNA in the blood.
Scientists said they are now hoping to use mammoth DNA to create blood that can be used to treat human patients facing extreme cold.
One application would be for transfusions when patients are subjected to hypothermia during heart and brain surgery.
Researcher Dr Chien Ho says the mammoth blood can "easily unload" oxygen in extreme cold conditions.
Reporting in the journal Biochemistry, Dr Ho, of Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, tells how he used DNA sequences extracted from three mammoths found in Siberia.
They found that mammoth haemoglobin had a mutation that made it different to the Asian elephant - and that this helped it survive the cold.
Dr Ho writes: "Compared to haemoglobin from Asian elephants and humans, the woolly mammoth protein was much less sensitive to temperature changes, which means it can still easily unload oxygen to tissues that need it in the cold, whereas the other haemoglobins can't.
"This is likely due to at least two of the mutations in the woolly mammoth haemoglobin gene."
Tags: General Health | North America | Transplant
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