An Unexpected New Lung Function Has Been Found - They Make Blood
Researchers have discovered that the lungs play a far more complex role in mammalian bodies than we thought, with new evidence revealing that they don't just facilitate respiration - they also play a key role in blood production.
In experiments involving mice, the team found that they produce more than 10 million platelets (tiny blood cells) per hour, equating to the majority of platelets in the animals' circulation. This goes against the decades-long assumption that bone marrow produces all of our blood components.
Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco also discovered a previously unknown pool of blood stem cells that makes this happen inside the lung tissue - cells that were incorrectly assumed to mainly reside in bone marrow .
"This finding definitely suggests a more sophisticated view of the lungs - that they're not just for respiration, but also a key partner in formation of crucial aspects of the blood," says one of the researchers, Mark R. Looney.
"What we've observed here in mice strongly suggests the lung may play a key role in blood formation in humans as well."
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While the lungs have been known to produce a limited amount of platelets - platelet-forming cells called megakaryocytes have been identified in the lungs before - scientists have long assumed that most of the cells responsible for blood production are kept inside the bone marrow.
Here, a process called haematopoiesis was thought to churn out oxygen-laden red blood cells, infection-fighting white blood cells, and platelets - blood components required for the clotting that halts bleeding.
But scientists have now watched megakaryocytes functioning from within the lung tissue to produce not a few, but most of the body's platelets.
This is an amazing discovery!
It is amazing that after all this time in modern medicine they are still discovering new aspects to the way the body functions.
That a shocking discovery....Amazing
We think we know so much... There is still so much to discover!
Thank you, lungs!
Science is cool. I've never heard of this before. Will do some more reading, thanks for posting it.
Be wary of too many platelets though. Essential Thrombocythemia JAK2 mutation can leave the process in the "always on" state. Combined with plaque ruptures it can gum up the works pretty quick.
Cool seed.
I'm always surprised when "long known" facts (like "bone marrow produces blood cells") prove to be incomplete. I suppose I should not be surprised -- the scientific method stipulates "true as of current data" and never "true for all time". But permanence is more comforting...