August 20, 2018 — William Hall, a retired marine scientist, is scheduled for cataract surgery soon, and a horseshoe crab will play a crucial role in the surgery’s success.
The blood of horseshoe crabs contains an agent that clots when exposed to gram-negative bacteria, such as E. coli and salmonella. Since the 1980s, the blood has been used to detect toxins in medical procedures, including inoculations, intravenous drugs and even rabies shots for pets.
Decades ago, scientists conducted less accurate toxin tests on rabbits. If the injected rabbit got a fever, the sample was contaminated.
Now, they use the blood of hundreds of thousands of horseshoe crabs. But blood extraction stresses the creatures. Fishermen under contract collect them from their habitat and haul them to a lab, where technicians extract their blood before they are carried back to the ocean and released. About 15 percent die from the process.
Thanks in part to funding from North Carolina Sea Grant, a Greensboro-based life sciences company plans to establish natural salt-water ponds where horseshoe crabs can rest and eat after having their blood extracted.