Evolutionary Conservation
In addition to the bovine and porcine tissue from which pharmaceutical-grade heparin is commonly extracted, heparin has also been extracted and characterised from the following species:
- Turkey
- Whale
- Dromedary camel
- Mouse
- Humans
- Lobster
- Fresh water mussel
- Clam
- Shrimp
- Mangrove crab
- Sand dollar
The biological activity of heparin within species 6–11 is unclear and further supports the idea that the main physiological role of heparin is not anticoagulation. These species do not possess any blood coagulation system similar to that present within the species listed 1–5. The above list also demonstrates how heparin has been highly evolutionarily conserved with molecules of a similar structure being produced by a broad range of organisms belonging to many different phyla.
Read more about this topic: Heparin
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