ACS Spring 2008: Magical gator serum
In the spirit of our swampy environs, the first press conference Sunday morning was on the special anti-microbial/fungal/viral properties of alligator blood. Biochemist and alligator rassler Mark Merchant of McNeese State University in southwestern Louisiana wasn't on hand to field questions, but two of his colleagues filled in, describing some progress on testing the blood's ability to kill microscopic invaders
Alligators aren’t the friendliest creatures around. They like to fight and sometimes sustain serious injuries; they also live in marches and swamps full of opportunistic microbes. But, the researchers say, alligators seldom get infected.
In 2006, the Sun-Sentinel in south Florida covered Merchant's work. By then, he had found alligator serum killed off all 16 strains of bacteria tested. Now, the number of bacterial fatalities has since gone up to 23, and includes the dreaded MRSA. Human serum is only effective in killing eight of those 23 strains.
No one is quite sure what it is about the serum that works so well, although there was some speculation that lysine and arginine-rich peptides may be responsible. Merchant's colleagues are in the process of looking into this.
Still, I’m left wondering whether alligator blood will ever yield useful clinical treatments. At higher concentrations the serum is very effective at killing cells -- including healthy human ones. I wasn’t able to get a clear answer from the presenters as to what the toxicity is like for human cells. It could very well be that alligator blood is an indiscriminate killer.