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ePaper created 2013-02-01, 09:35:07 | version 1.24.0
66 Blood Samples in the Neutron Beam In such diverse creatures as crocodiles, platypuses, humans, and chickens, the haemo- globin in the red blood cells has the same function: it transports oxygen from the lungs into the entire body. An international team headed by Dr. Andreas Stadler from Forschungszentrum Jülich have used their investigative skills to find out details about how and why the haemoglobin nevertheless differs in these species. Their findings are relevant for research on artificial blood, for example. T he peculiarities of the platypus make it a firm favourite in schools and quiz shows: for example, it lays eggs, yet its young are fed by the mother’s milk. Only in Australia does the platypus occur in the wild. It is considered a “primitive mammal” or “living fossil” and is therefore of great interest for evolution research. Jülich phys- icist Andreas Stadler, however, is interest- ed in the platypus because of another one of its peculiarities: its body temperature of only 33°C is lower than in almost all other mammals, and no less than4 °C lower than in healthy humans. Its low body temperature is ultimately the reason why Stadler and eight other sci- entists from Germany, France, and Austra- lia have performed sophisticated experi- ments to study the animal’s haemoglobin – the red blood pigment. In addition, they also investigated the haemoglobin of other blood donors: that of humans, chickens, and saltwater crocodiles. The researchers’ choice also has to do with the respective body temperature of these animals. In chickens, it is particularly high at 41°C, while in crocodiles, it fluctuates between 25°C and 34°C depending on the ambient temperature. For their work, the scientists, who are based at eight different research institutions, used the research reactor FRM II in Garching near Munich and also the most powerful neutron source in the world at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in Greno- ble, France. Their findings were recently published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. It was a long journey from Australia to Europe for the blood samples of the platy- 26°25°24°