Lungs produce blood or how did we miss such a crucial biological process this whole time?

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Scientists have revealed that the lungs play a previously unrecognized role in blood production.

So how did we miss such a crucial biological process this whole time?

In a new research paper entitled ‘The lung is a site of platelet biogenesis and a reservoir for haematopoietic progenitors’, scientists working at UC San Francisco explain how using video microscopy in a living mouse lung, they discovered that the lungs play a previously unrecognized role in blood production.

lungs produce blood, New scietific discovery: Lungs produce blood, blood produced by lungs
New scietific discovery: Lungs produce blood

While the lungs have been known to produce a limited amount of platelets, this new scientific discovery shows that lungs are responsible for the production of more than 10 million platelets (tiny blood cells) per hour, equating to the majority of platelets in the animals’ circulation. Therefore, these results go against the decades-long assumption that bone marrow produces all of our blood components.

So how did we miss such a crucial biological process this whole time?

Now watch the difference between a healthy and a smoker lung.

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