Blood vertebrate

Occupancy of retinol binding site of transthyretin in vertebrate blood... 

Both male and female tsetse live solely on vertebrate blood, and the various species that carry sleeping sickness typically feed not only on humans but also on both domestic and wild animals. Infected flies pass on trypanosomes whenever they take a blood meal, so that the parasites not only move between flies and humans, but also infect a number of other hosts. Infected domestic animals develop nagana, but wild animals may show no sign of illness. They serve instead as healthy animal reservoirs of trypanosomes, permitting tsetse flies to pick up the parasites at any time without necessarily feeding on infected humans or domestic animals. For this reason and also because available drug therapies have proved no more practical here than for leishmaniasis, control of trypanosomiasis has long emphasized eradication of tsetse flies. 

The multi-copper oxidases include laccase, ceruloplasmin, and ascorbate oxidase. Laccase can be found in tree sap and in fungi ascorbate oxidase, in cucumber and related plants and ceruloplasmin, in vertebrate blood serum. Laccases catalyze oxidation of phenolic compounds to radicals with a concomitant 4e reduction of O2 to water, and it is thought that this process may be important in the breakdown of lignin. Ceruloplasmin, whose real biological function is either quite varied or unknown, also catalyzes oxidation of a variety of substrates, again via a 4e reduction of O2 to water. Ferroxidase activity has been demonstrated for it, as has SOD activity. Ascorbate oxidase catalyzes the oxidation of ascorbate, again via a 4e reduction of O2 to water. Excellent reviews of these three systems can be found in Volume 111 of Copper Proteins and Copper Enzymes (Lontie, 1984). 

Transferrins exist in blood sera, milks and avian egg whites in the relatively high concentrations of 0.1% to 16% of the solids. The highest concentrations have been found in avian egg whites (28) and, in general, the concentrations in avian egg whites are higher than in the other fluids. In fact, the lowest concentration reported in avian egg whites is approximately equal to the concentrations usually found in vertebrate blood sera, namely 2—3% of the solids. Milk, however, has much lower concentrations, and values as low as 0.1% (20 mg isolated from 1 liter of milk) have been indicated (62). Small amounts of transferrins also have been reported in other fluids, such as cerebrospinal fluid (29, 105), seminal fluid (87) and urine (15). Interpretations of the significance of these observations, however, should await further and more detailed studies because the presence of blood serum proteins in small quantities in other body fluids may be adventitious. Transferrin was not found in chemically detectible amounts in the egg white of the desert tortoise (37). But since no other reports apparently have been made on eggs of other reptiles or fish, the presence or absence of transferrins in these materials must be considered as yet uninvestigated. 

Barber, A. A. and P. Sheeler Iron-binding by vertebrate blood sera. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 2, 233 (1961). 

A comparative study on the iron-binding proteins of vertebrate blood... 

Hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein of vertebrate blood, is similar in structure to myoglobin. However, hemoglobin is composed of four chains i.e., it has a quaternary structure. The four chains... 

Most of the 600 species of leeches are predatory or ectoparasites few of them are used in medicine and veterinary medicine.80,81 In order to paralyze or consume an invertebrate or vertebrate prey, leeches inject various gland constituents from salivary glands into their victims but they are also able to conserve ingested vertebrate blood by antibiotics and may concentrate it. From Hirudo medicinalis and H. verbena, about 40 different salivary gland constituents are known. 

Augustinsson, K-B. (1961). Multiple forms of esterase in vertebrate blood plasma. Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 94 844-60. 

Creatine— A nitrogenous, organic acid found in the muscle tissue of many vertebrates. Blood levels increase when muscle is damaged. 

In vertebrates, blood is composed of blood cells suspended in plasma. Blood plasma contains mostly water, i.e. 92% by volume. Other than water it contains proteins, glucose, mineral ions, hormones, carbon dioxide, and of eourse the blood cells. The pH of our blood is strictly controlled it is maintained by a number of buffers within a range of 7.35 to 7.45, more alkaline than pure water. Note also that the pH of the ocean is typically between 7.6 and 8.4, with acidity seeming to be increasing due to human impact and pH decreasing with time. 

Fig. 90a (Ware, Fahey and Seegers). Events in clotting of vertebrate blood plasma...

---