vampire bat saliva stroke aid

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Zee - 14 Jan 2005 22:46 GMT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1390248,00.html

Vampire bat spittle contains a substance that prevents the blood from
clotting, so the bat can feast on its victim for longer.

....more....

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Sbharris[atsign]ix.netcom.com - 15 Jan 2005 01:37 GMT

Yes. In fact it's not quite as exotic as it sounds, since we and bats
are mammals, and we have related genes that do related things. We
mammals all have tissue plasminiogen activator (tPA) in our tissues
that does this job (break up clots). Genetically engineered human tPA
is used to treat heart attack and stroke patients NOW. The stuff in
the vampire bat's saliva is just bat tPA, which this particular species
of bat secretes in the saliva to aid feeding. It has slightly different
properties from the human version, which may make it superior for
treating clots that have blocked brain vessels for more than 3 hours.
This has been news on the stroke treatment circuit for several years,
now.

SBH

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Zee - 15 Jan 2005 02:14 GMT

We know you aren't Steve Harris. C'mon; could Steve have passed this
one up?
Nice try though.

Zee

> Yes. In fact it's not quite as exotic as it sounds, since we and bats
> are mammals, and we have related genes that do related things. We
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
>
> SBH

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Sbharris[atsign]ix.netcom.com - 15 Jan 2005 02:38 GMT

Blah! Blah, Mr. Renfield! I do not make fun of zee doctors unlez zey
are doingk zomzing stuupid. Zis iss NOT!

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menu boy - 15 Jan 2005 02:23 GMT

> http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1390248,00.html
>
> Vampire bat spittle contains a substance that prevents the blood from
> clotting, so the bat can feast on its victim for longer.
>
> ....more....

Don't tell Ace Ventura.

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