BREAKING - Lungs Make Blood

Unbelievable.

We all know blood is produced in bone marrow. But, no. Wrong. Turns out the lungs make blood's platelets. Seems to be a bit of cooperation going on between bone marrow and lungs. Who'da thunk it?

But I'm curious - how was that missed?

Unexpected new lung function discovered: Making blood

Our bodies still hold plenty of secrets, and scientists have just uncovered a doozy: the lungs play a key role in producing blood. Until now, this task was ascribed solely to bone marrow, but studies on mice at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) have found that, surprisingly, the majority of the body's platelets are produced in the lungs, as is a backup reservoir of blood stem cells that can step in when those in the bone marrow run dry.

...the megakaryocytes in the lungs were creating more than 10 million platelets an hour, constituting more than half of a mouse's total amount. That population appears to be fed by a group of megakaryocyte progenitor cells and blood stem cells that are living just outside the main lung vasculature. The team spotted these cells – numbering at around a million per lung – with video microscopy techniques.

..."This finding definitely suggests a more sophisticated view of the lungs – that they're not just for respiration, but also a key partner in formation of crucial aspects of the blood," says Mark R. Looney, MD, senior author of the study. "What we've observed here in mice strongly suggests the lung may play a key role in blood formation in humans as well."

While the lungs may appear to be doing much of the work, bone marrow is no slouch. In fact, the two seem to work together to make blood.

..."It's fascinating that megakaryocytes travel all the way from the bone marrow to the lungs to produce platelets," says Guadalupe Ortiz-Muñoz, co-first author of the study. "It's possible that the lung is an ideal bioreactor for platelet production because of the mechanical force of the blood, or perhaps because of some molecular signaling we don't yet know about."

Finally, an explanation that may make good sense.

Evidently, I suffer from "low platelet count" and over the years have consulted various hematologists upon being referred by my primary care physician. Different blood labs produce different results, the doctors say not to worry about it, have no clue for a cause, no idea why these incidents re-occur every few years.

I also have COPD, so my lung function isn't all that great, although my "blow tests" always say my lung "capacity" is great. (In person, you could say I'm a bit of a "blow hard"). From time to time I've had some really nasty lung issues, pneumonia at least once. Now I'm wondering if these issues are related.

ganjoa

Wonderful post! Thanks for that OP, this gives me yet another reason to stop smoking!!! I wonder how smoking affects this process, I can imagine many possible consequences here. Fascinating.

what, NO
It makes a mockery of science and the whole system, we all know better than to question those who tell us what we is the truth
It's in the bones, don't rock the system

My brain first read the title of the thread incorrectly with "Lungs make butter". As in lung butter, grotesque.

This is unexpected news. Why didn't they know this was happening before. Most people think that the liver makes most of the enzymes to detox, because that is what many books say, but actually the lungs actually make some enzymes the liver makes too.

The lungs are often hurt by scents in perfumes and colognes and chemicals in the environment we live in. So these scents may be causing disruptions in the blood making process. Another thing, are there stem cells stored in the lungs too, and is it possible that the lungs can create stem cells. This opens up a big can of worms.

I keep running into things like this in medical research. Our knowledge of how our bodies work is thought to be well known and big things like this are discovered. This is important to get out to doctors and our government needs to now consider banning some chemistry that causes problems with this. Look at the new chemicals science creates and these scents can possibly have a dampening effect on the lungs ability to do their job. These new chemicals introduced only have to be shown to be safe against what is already known to be a problem.

In my world, this is big news, I hope they follow up on this but I can see it being buried as much of the research I study is.

Maybe more reason to investigate weed

a reply to: soficrow

Cool...but why can't you change your title to say blood platelets????

Oh they knew... they just withheld the information.

The closer we get to knowing how everything works, the closer we get to being a threat.

Physics is in the same boat. We can't have masters of the matter walking around everywhere, better mislead them with an old theory from hundreds of years ago that still doesn't explain gravity...

originally posted by: Skywatcher2011
a reply to: soficrow

Cool...but why can't you change your title to say blood platelets????

Actually, the lungs are said in the full article to contain lots of blood cell stem cells too. So they can also make blood cells if needed.

That would require adequate B12 and folate in the bloodstream to produce them though. Along with adequate amounts of a few minerals. It would appear that if you were low on RBCells, they could possibly produce those. But to what extent is not known yet.

originally posted by: anonfamily
Oh they knew... they just withheld the information.

The closer we get to knowing how everything works, the closer we get to being a threat.

Physics is in the same boat. We can't have masters of the matter walking around everywhere, better mislead them with an old theory from hundreds of years ago that still doesn't explain gravity...

I like that, it is actually true too. Job security.

originally posted by: dfnj2015
My brain first read the title of the thread incorrectly with "Lungs make butter". As in lung butter, grotesque.

Maybe you need some good popcorn covered in real butter.

MANDELA EFFECT!

The whole of system truly does work together for building the body. Now canna-lungs: Nice find for people who have certain medical conditions such as thrombocytopenia (Low Platelet Count) can adjust administration of the medicinal herb properly.

a reply to: dfnj2015

You may be the only other person than myself I've heard use the phrase "lung butter"

a reply to: Boomy327

But they just legalized weed =. I just started smoking and eating.

a reply to: Bedlam

Hows it used in context? I knew a guy name tunabutter once

a reply to: BASSPLYR

coff coff ptoo! Gah, I just honked up a half pint of lung butter.

a reply to: Bedlam

Ew. Lung butter. Sounds gross but i ate way too many buttered english muffins yesterday and my sweat literally smells like salted butter. Ewww.

You probably didnt want to know that.