What Happens If Chimpanzee Blood is Donated to a Human?

Blood transfusions are very common and important in today’s medicine. However, if a person takes blood from an animal, A thought that is probably unimaginable. “How?” We seem to hear you say.

In this content, we A human had to take blood from a chimpanzee Let’s imagine and see if this is possible.

Every person in the world has a specific blood type, and these groups show some differences.

Separating blood groups from each other depending on whether they have antigens or antibodies on their red blood cells takes shape. These specific antigens act as signals on the body’s immune system and can be found in different forms on red blood cells.

Moreover, this situation is not specific only to blood cells, It is valid for all cells in the body. This way, the immune system can target the appropriate cells when searching for potentially harmful substances.

When it comes to classifying blood cells, we encounter two main blood group systems: AB0 and Rh.

AB0 system, a person Whether it has A, B, 0 antigens or both It varies at the point. For example, if red blood cells have A antigen, this indicates that there are Anti-B antibodies in the body.

Likewise, if there is B antigen in the body; It means the immune system has Anti-A antibodies. If the blood type is 0, it can be said that there are no antigens in the blood and therefore both antibodies will be present in the blood.

In addition to AB0, the Rh blood group is the system carried by monkeys that have a blood antigen similar to humans in their blood.

That is, abbreviations such as Rh+ or Rh- It comes from the name of Rhesus monkeys. The reason for this is the presence of a protein known as D antigen in the blood of these monkey species.

In addition, one of these blood groups, 0, has a different importance than the others. The blood of people with zero blood can be used by everyone. universal donor is given the name.

That is, if the red blood cells do not carry AB and Rh antigens, There is no negative reaction in the body’s immune system and donation becomes very safe.

Let’s get to our main topic: Is it possible for humans to take blood from chimpanzees?

Surprisingly, chimpanzees, as well as bonobos, It has approximately 98.7% of the same DNA structure as humans. In addition to these obvious differences in physical appearance, our genetic structure is almost identical to these two creatures, and it is this surprising similarity that makes the issue of blood transfusion between species so interesting.

The process of transferring the blood of one living species to the veins of another species is called xenotransfusion, and it is necessary to do this due to ethical considerations. Although it is often difficult, it is not actually impossible.

The AB0 blood group system is not unique to humans.

This system is also present in chimpanzees and ancient monkey species. The difference at this point is that A and B antigens differ between species. For this reason, unless the blood type taken from chimpanzees is 0, people are much more likely to have complications or be rejected by the immune system.

Although the fact that antigens differ in the form of A and B may seem to make compatibility between people difficult at first, the situation is actually the opposite. When the blood group is 0 and therefore there are no antigens in the blood cells, the immune system cannot find any incentive to go into defense.

Essentially, when it comes to blood transfusion, these animals are not a good choice, even though our genetic structure is 98.7% similar to chimpanzees.

Unexpectedly, the blood of pigs is much better adapted to the blood of humans than that of chimpanzees and some monkey species. The secret of this is the AB0 blood group system, It matches more easily with pig antigens.

In addition, the reaction of the immune system and The chance of the blood being completely rejected by the body is also much less. You may have heard somewhere that heart valves taken from pigs were transferred to the human heart. The reason for this is that the probability of rejection of these heart samples is quite low.

Red blood cells found in pigs; in terms of volume, size and life cycle length It bears great resemblance to humans. It is even possible to change the genes of these animals to make their blood more compatible with humans.

In summary; In desperate situations, chimpanzee blood can be transferred to humans.

But Provided that the blood group you have belongs to the O system. Conversely, transferring human blood to chimpanzees is currently being researched by the scientific world, but it is not believed to be feasible.

In addition, when it comes to blood transfusion, if this transfusion must be from an animal, Pigs rather than chimpanzees seem like a much better option.