2. The 400
The Horseshoe crab is one of over 400 species found in the
IRL.
3. Bacteria are everywhere in our
environment.
What does this have to do with us and The
horseshoe crab?
Certainly not the prettiest but the most
important.
5. But
One of the most vital to all of us
AND
They are not even true crabs
6. NOT EVEN CLOSE
There is no other species in North
America closely related to them. A
class by themselves…………..
In more ways than one, as we will
see.
12. How does the horseshoe crab protect the
public health?
The horseshoe crab plays a vital role in injectable
medication.
An extract of the horseshoe crab's blood is used by the
pharmaceutical and medical device industries to ensure
that their products, e.g., intravenous drugs, vaccines, and
medical devices, are free of bacterial contamination.
14. Bacteria around us can cause disease
Salmonella
Cholera
Tetanus
Lyme Disease
15. ENDOTOXINS
The bacterial toxin of greatest concern is
termed endotoxin, and
it is able to withstand steam
sterilization.
16. http://www.horseshoecrab.org/med/me
d.html
There is class of bacteria of most concern is known as
Gram-negative, for their characteristic of being easily
decolorized during the Gram staining procedure.
Surprisingly, it is the non-pathogenic members of the
Gram-negative group, those that love aquatic
environments, which cause the most problems for the
pharmaceutical industry.
18. DISCOVERY 1960
when common marine bacteria were
injected into the bloodstream of the North
American horseshoe crab,
massive clotting occurred.
19. , these investigators were able to localize
the clotting phenomenon to the blood cells,
amebocytes, of the horseshoe crab
20. Thus, the horseshoe crab is constantly threatened with
infection due to its environment. The horseshoe crab lacks
an immune system; It does contain a number of
compounds that will bind to and inactivate bacteria,
fungi, and viruses.
It is one of the marvels of evolution that the horseshoe
crab uses endotoxin as a signal for wound occurrence and
as an extremely effective defense against infection.
21. The blood….
…..forms a physical barrier against additional
bacterial entry and infection and creates a
physical barrier against additional bacterial entry
and infection.
22. How is this done?
Horseshoe crabs are collected by hand and are not injured during this
process.
Once the crabs are caught, they are transported to the laboratory from the
fishing pier by truck. During the bleeding process, up to 30% of the animal's
blood is removed. Research has shown that once returned to the water, the
horseshoe crab's blood volume rebounds in about a week.
The Associates of Cape Cod and other LAL manufacturers have studied
horseshoe crab mortality following the bleeding procedure and have found it
to be quite low, less than 3% when compared to controls handled similarly but
not bled. There are no records of a horseshoe crab dying during the bleeding
process itself. Other studies conducted by government agencies and
universities indicate a mortality of 10-15%. However, the horseshoe crabs in
these studies were not handled as carefully as those collected by the LAL
industry.
