Horseshoe Crab Blood

Wholesale Horseshoe Crab Blood Extract at low prices

Horseshoe crabs use hemoglobin to carry oxygen through their blood. Because of the copper present in hemocyanin, their blood is blue. ... Amebocytes from the blood of L. Polyphemus are used to make Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL), which is used for the detection of bacterial endorphins in medical applications.
Their distinctive blue blood is used to detect dangerous Gram-negative bacteria such as E. coli in injectable drugs such as insulin, implantable medical devices such as knee replacements, and hospital instruments such as scalpels and IVs. Components of this crab blood have a unique and invaluable talent for finding infection, and that has driven up an insatiable demand. Every year the medical testing industry catches a half-million horseshoe crabs to sample their blood.
But that demand cannot climb forever. There's a growing concern among scientists that the biomedical industry's bleeding of these crabs may be endangering a creature that's been around since dinosaur days. There are currently no quotas on how many crabs one can bleed because biomedical laboratories drain only a third of the crab's blood, then put them back into the water, alive.