Scientists Have Discovered A Secret Function Of

Lungs
A good starting point for any scientist in any field is to acknowledge that theres a
lot that we dont know. We dont know, for example, why there is more matter
than antimatter in the universe. We dont know quite how the evolution of
the dinosaurs panned out. And, perhaps most surprisingly of all, we dont know
quite how many organs the human body has or what all their functions are.

This January, researchers have announced that a brand new organ had been
discovered in our bodies after it had long been mistaken for something else.
Now, writing in the journal Nature, a group of researchers from the University of
California, San Francisco (UCSF), have found that the lungs in mice have a
hidden feature too they help make blood.

Specifically, it appears the lungs produce over half of the platelets the
components that bind blood together to stop us bleeding out when were
wounded involved in circulation.

So not only do our breathing bags allow us to respire, but they also help keep our
cardiovascular system full to the brim. Well thats rather lovely of them.

Thats not all. The researchers also managed to identify a cache of stem cells
the type that can differentiate into almost any cell type with the right biological
programming that can transform themselves into blood cells.

Bone marrow is thought to be the primary source of such stem cells, so this new
revelation suggests that if our bone marrow is damaged and unable to keep up
with its regular blood cell manufacture, our lungs can step in to make up for the
shortfall.

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, senior author Mark Looney, a professor of medicine at
UCSF, said in a statement.

A little caveat worth mentioning at this point is that this hasnt been directly
imaged in humans, but mice. Nevertheless, the biological workings of these little
critters is surprisingly similar to that of humans, which is part of the reason why
theyre used in so many medical-themed studies so theres a good chance
human lungs also possess the same hidden features.

Using a remarkable technique allowing the platelets to fluoresce, the team were
able to directly trace the paths of the mousey platelets, and found they were
coming from within the lungs. The megakaryocytes the platelet-producing cells
are also seen moving back and forth between the lungs and the bone marrow,
depending on where they are needed the most.