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Horseshoe crabs: biomedical importance and its potential use in developing health-care products

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Title Horseshoe crabs: biomedical importance and its potential use in developing health-care products
 
Creator Kumar, Vikash
Roy, Suvra
Sahoo, A.K.
Kumar, Vikas
 
Subject Horseshoe crab
Amebocytes
Factor C
Lipopolysaccharide
Chitin
 
Description 1234-1244
Horseshoe crabs have been a model for many biomedical science studies. Medicinal value of horseshoe crabs comes from its blue blood, eye and exoskeleton (chitin). Ability of blood to clot in the presence of bacteria, rendering the bacteria harmless has created its biomedical importance. Blood cells (amebocytes) carry Factor C, which binds lipopolysaccharide (LPS), undergoes a structural reorganization, then auto-proteolytically activates itself to initiate the clotting pathway that eventually results in a proteolytic modification of the zymogen, coagulogen, which then self-polymerizes into the insoluble fibrils of the extracellular blood clot. Blood-clotting ability of the horseshoe crab makes it very valuable in testing for injectable medicines, vaccines and sterile medical equipment. Secondly, the nerve pathways in the eyes of horseshoe crabs have led to many discoveries in human eye research. Furthermore, the outer shell of a horseshoe crab is made primarily of chitin and being used as a coating for suture material and burn dressings, rapidly increases the wound healing, cutting the time by half.
 
Date 2016-10-18T05:54:26Z
2016-10-18T05:54:26Z
2016-10
 
Type Article
 
Identifier 0975-1033 (Online); 0379-5136 (Print)
http://nopr.niscair.res.in/handle/123456789/35707
 
Language en_US
 
Rights CC Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India
 
Publisher NISCAIR-CSIR, India
 
Source IJMS Vol.45(10) [October 2016]