February 10, 2019 Sunday
Bedtime Story
Active-Phase Protein
Last night I had left you apes with
something that most of you might not have been aware of and that was
active-phase proteins.
Active-phase proteins are those proteins
whose plasma concentrations respond immediately to any inflammation in the
body, accompanied either by an increase or a decrease in their levels.
Proteins whose concentration in the blood increases
sharply in response to inflammation are known as positive active-phase proteins.
When their levels go down sharply during
inflammation then they are called negative active-phase proteins.
Fibrinogen is one such positive
active-phase protein in an event of inflammation.
Now why should fibrinogen levels in blood
rise (as a result of up-regulation and thereby increased transcription of three
genes responsible for its production in liver cells) in a case of inflammation
or tissue injury?
For this one needs to understand the
function of fibrinogen.
The primary function of fibrinogen is to
clog the blood vessels with clot and thus stop bleeding.
This happens by its conversion to fibrin
which is a polymerized form of fibrinogen.
Like any chemical reaction this too needs a
catalyst to hasten it which in biology is served by enzymes and the enzyme in
this case is the protease thrombin.
The cross-linked fibrin forms a mesh on top
of the platelet plug thereby strengthening and completing the clot.
Thus our tissues are programmed to react in
certain way in the form of following algorithm.
If inflammation then assume vascular injury
and thereby assume blood less and thereby order liver cells to enhance production
of fibrinogen by enhancing the transcription of the three genes that are responsible
for the synthesis of fibrinogen.
So we understand that fibrinogen through
its subsequent protein fibrin takes part in the clot formation.
But how does fibrinogen affects the sedimentation
of erythrocytes?
Many cells of the vertebrates and some invertebrates
have sialic acid on their surfaces which made its appearance quite late in
evolution.
I say so because plants do not contain or
display sialic acid on their surfaces and neither do many or most of the
invertebrates.
In us apes the organ that has this molecule
in the highest concentration is the brain where it plays a crucial role both in
neural transmission and synaptogenesis.
It is this very molecule on our cell surfaces
that viruses which cause common cold (adenoviruses) and influenza exploit to
attach themselves to our cells before invading them.
Stay tuned to the voice of an
average story storytelling chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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