Many friends have encouraged me to write popular science related to medicine and biology. I have never tried it. What should I write? I asked someone to give me a proposition, and he said he wrote about hematoporphyria. Recently we watched "Doctor House" and there was an episode about this. But it's too difficult, but it's a bit interesting, let me talk about this blood disease and vampires. What is the relationship between the two? Let me slowly break it down.
When it comes to vampires, everyone will definitely think of the American movie vampire series. Pale, afraid of the light, bloodthirsty, cruel, hideous, acting in the dark, and a little romantic and sad, the members of Count Dracula's family will come to mind.
Rousseau once said that if there is a well-documented history in the world, then this is the history of vampires. It has complete historical materials: with the proof of oral legends and the testimony of reliable surgeons, priests and judges, who can't believe that there are vampires?
So are there really vampires in this world?
Modern science explains this problem to us. There is a rare blood disease-patients with porphyria have an image very similar to a vampire.
Porphyrin, derived from the Greek word porphura, means purple. Every living organism is full of porphyrin pigments. For example, they enter the chlorophyll, which makes the leaves green, and the hemoglobin, which makes the blood red.
If the mechanism of heme production in people's body is disordered, light-sensitive porphyrins will accumulate in the body, causing the color of bones and urine to become red, and teeth to dark brown or purple. This is porphyria, a rare genetic disease.
Bloodthirsty: Patients with porphyria can be relieved after blood transfusion and heme treatment. In ancient times, patients with porphyria can make themselves more comfortable by sucking blood.
Afraid to light: Porphyrin is a photosensitive pigment that will not affect the human body in the dark. Once exposed to sunlight, it becomes a catalyst that can transform ordinary oxygen into singlet oxygen. Singlet oxygen is a member of the oxygen free radical family. It has a damaging effect on cells and damages tissues. Painful burns and ulcers often appear on the skin. Therefore, patients with porphyria are afraid of the sun like a vampire and can only live in the dark.
Pale face: Because of the disorder of their hematopoietic mechanism, most patients with porphyria have severe anemia. Coupled with living in the dark all the year round, patients with porphyria often have pale faces.
Bloody fangs: After exposure to sunlight, porphyrin will be converted into a toxin that can swallow muscles and tissues-singlet oxygen. It will corrode the lips and gums of patients, causing them to show sharp, wolf-like teeth. The porphyrin also gives it a blood red color, so it gives the impression of bloody fangs.
Immortal: The vampires in movies often live for hundreds or even thousands of years, with old and hideous faces. Due to the effects of toxins, patients with porphyria will corrode their ears and nose, and their skin is also covered with scars, making them look extraordinarily old.
The above all explain the actual source of the vampire legend. Of course, the legend is a legend after all, and we don't have any vampire specimens to confirm it. What we want to solve is the illness of porphyrin patients in reality.
The "Mad King" George III of the United Kingdom was one of the victims of this disease. The former German Chancellor Mrs. Cole also suffered from this disease.
Porphyria is still a strange disease to this day. It is currently only treated by blood transfusion, but it does not solve the problem after being seriously ill. Fortunately, there are not many such severe cases.
At the same time, scientists have developed new ideas for the treatment of cancer from the pathogenesis of porphyria. Porphyrin turns into a toxin that destroys cell tissues when exposed to light, so how can we use this substance in tumor tissues? Can’t it kill and destroy tumor cells?
Of course, the patient will not become a vampire during this process, because the mechanism of metabolism of porphyrin in his body is not defective, and the pigment that has completed the task can be eliminated by the body.
In this way, the vampire legend provides our scientists with clues to overcome another problem.
Many of the above materials come from my textbooks and the Internet. I only did the work of general summaries and texts, so that people who have not studied medicine can understand them as much as possible. Dear friends, do you understand a little bit?
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