The human body still contains many mysteries, and scientists have just revealed one of them. It turns out that the lungs play a key role in the blood production process.
Until now, it was believed that only the bone marrow was responsible for this function, but studies conducted in laboratory mice at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) showed that most of the platelets in the body are produced in the lungs. In fact, the lungs are a reserve storehouse of blood stem cells, which can actively form when such cells in the bone marrow dry out.
Science has long believed that most of the cells that make up blood are concentrated only in the bone marrow, where the process of hematopoiesis takes place. However, an experiment in mice showed that the cells of the megakaryocytes that produce platelets are found in the tissues of the lungs.
Scientists have found that platelets circulating through the lungs of live mice interact with the immune system.
“When we found a large number of platelet-forming megakaryocytes in the lung tissue, we realized that it was a revolutionary discovery,” said Emma Lefrances, who is the co-author of the study.
On closer inspection, it was found that megakaryocytes in the lungs create more than 10 million platelets per hour, accounting for more than half of the total platelet count in a mouse.
“This finding suggests that lung function is more extensive than we previously thought. We need them not only for breathing, but also for hematopoiesis, as well as for the correct functioning of our immunity,”added the researcher.