Human serum is the name given to the human blood which does not contain fibrinogens and other blood clotting agents. The serum is produced by carefully removing the substances mentioned so that the final product which contains red blood cells, lymphocytes, and macrophages is used for research purposes. These researches mainly aim to produce human biological products which can be used to either study the conditions of a disease or produce biological products which can help cure a disease.
There are many organizations and institutes who collect serums and the biologicals contained in it from donations either pooled or individual. For this to happen, they need to have the authorization from FDA in the form of the license which they issue.
How is serum obtained?
As we stated earlier, the serum is collected by FDA licensed health institute which collects blood from the donors.
Based on the research type, the obtained blood is processed according to the FDA virology’s to ensure that each bleed contains human products according to the recommendations. After that, the serum can either be required in its natural unclogged state, or the researchers could want an off-the-clot serum.
In the former type, anticoagulants are added to the serum and also the natural coagulant agents are removed from it. However, in the off-the-clot serum, no anticoagulant is added and it is obtained from the blood that has been allowed to clot immediately after centrifugation.
Having said that, there are numerous researches where few specific components of the blood are not needed. For them, special serums are made. For example, the type AB serum is the one that does not contain anti-A or anti-B antibodies. This serum is used where the behavior of human blood is to be studied in low immuno-activity.
What are some of the researches performed?
The answer to this question can be a long one. This is because for new advancements to occur in the field of health sciences there are numerous researches that are carried out. Each of these requires human biologicals in one form or another. However, generalizing all those researches, they can be broadly put into three categories.
- Immunohistochemical Staining
IHC or immunohistochemistry is the discipline which focuses on the applications of antibodies to know how a tissue reacts to a certain disease. Immunohistochemical staining is a technique in this discipline which contains the processes involved in studying the behavior of the cells. Due to the disadvantages of the cancer diagnosis and treatment preferences such as hematoxylin and eosin methods and MTT staining, the immunohistochemical staining is employed these days in searching for an effective diagnosis method and a viable cure of cancer.
- Human Leukocyte Antigen Typing
Researchers use HLA to treat patients who receive a transplant from a donor. HLA are basically proteins which are present on all of the cells in our body. These markers are used by our immune system to recognize native cells. Any foreign bodies that enter our bloodstreamare easily recognized since they do not have the HLA markers. Thus, before or after the donation, the transplanted organ has to be treated with HLA Typing in order to eliminate any possibility of rejection by the body of the acceptor.
- Researches Involving Cell Culture Media
Normally, these days, all researches that involve humans as a subject as well as an object of the research require human serum or biologicals. The reason why the use of animal sera has been rejected is the fact that under conditions where there is a need to have the cells of the immune system to play a part in the research, only the human sera can provide the researchers with appropriate and targeted research results.
Research and Ethics
From the above discussion, it can be acknowledged that the human biologicals or the human serum have an increased demand for fuelling important health researches around the world. However, before obtaining them, ethical considerations should be implemented.
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