It started with an attack. At Sea Run Holdings, a salmon farm, birds would viciously eat the fish often times slicing them completely in half. However, Evelyn Sawyer (Sea Run Holdings' founder) noticed something odd about the attacks...there would be almost no blood.
Evelyn theorized that something was strange about the blood-clotting capabilities of salmon, but what exactly was it? In vertebrate animals, blood clotting is caused by two proteins: thrombin and fibrinogen. In tests, Evelyn observed that salmon blood clots more quickly and firmly than a mammal's. Sea Run Holdings changed it's focus to the pharmaceutical industry.
Their first idea was a clotting product for major bleeding that they immediately took to the U.S. Army, named SEA-STAT. Unfortunately, this was shot down, as a cheaper product made from minerals was chosen for the job. Next, they examined the ability of salmon to regenerate their own spinal cords. Rat testing showed tremendous success at spinal cord regeneration, but ran into issues with variability in humans...it was just too risky.
So what next? Painkillers. One of the clotting proteins- Thrombin- has worked wonderfully on animals, treating acute and chronic pain (including bone pain, post-op pain, nerve pain and burns). Beth Winkelstein, a biomedical engineer at the University of Pennsylvania, has had excellent results treating nerve pain with thrombin. When salmon thrombin is administered after an injury, it acts directly on the molecular pain pathway- stopping it in it's tracks.
Salmon blood is proving to be a safe, non-addictive, and effective agent against pain of all kinds. What other benefits might salmon bring to the table?
Source: Hakai Magazine
Read the full article here.
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