chimeras paper

Thesis: Chimeras were once thought to be so rare that they were just a subject of curiosity.

Now a days chimeras are becoming more and more common. Chimera is defined as a mixture of two or more individuals in a single body. Humans that have more than one blood type.

A blood type can be shared with a twin that died during gestation.

A blood type can be shared with the mother.

Those who have received a blood transplant.

Those that have received an organ transplant through donation.

2)  The history of Chimeras

Chimeras were part of Greek mythology.

A chimera had the head of lion and the body of a goat and the tail of a serpent.

The story of the chimera is about how a monster was terrorizing a village and a Greek hero on a winged horse killed the animal.

The emotions in the myth are fear, happiness, and triumph.

3)  Human- Animal Chimeras

There is evidence of pigs being born with human blood.

  There is evidence of sheep having the liver and hearts of humans.

  There is evidence of mice having human brain cells.

4)    Potential of Chimeras

  a)  Can be a research tool to find cures for illness.

  b)  Can be used as test subjects for new medicines

         c)  Can be used to observe how embryos grow.







         Chimeras were once thought to be so rare that they were just a subject of curiosity.

         Chimeras were once thought to be so rare that they were just a subject of curiosity.  Now a days chimeras are becoming more and more common. Some humans can be classified as chimeras as they have two or more blood types in their bodies; these “blood chimeras” have very common cases such as people who have received a blood or organ transplant. Some of the other cases of chimeras include; a blood type that is shared with a twin that died during gestation periods, as well as an individual sharing a blood type with the mother as well as have the fathers’ blood type somewhere else in their body.

         Imagine waking up one day and needing a kidney from one of your three kids, so you go to the hospital for a blood compatibility test and the results come back that you are not the mother of two of the kids. When the possibility of a mix up of babies is ruled out and in vitro fertilization has not been performed, how can the children not belong to you? This is what happened to Jane, she is a human chimera.

         “What happened to Jane is a much rarer. Rather than a simple blood transplant, she and her fraternal twin fused in the uterus, leaving only one fetus. The cells in her body are a composition of genes from both of the original embryos. The cheek cells from which the genetic testing was done were from one of those embryos, but at least some of the cells in her ovaries came from the other. Oddly enough this genetic mutation gives her a better-than-usual chance of having a successful kidney donation, as her immune system does not reject either of two distinct tissue types. She would, however, be a poor candidate as a kidney donor were she in that position, due to the appearance of two tissue types in her kidneys” (Cynthia Wood).

          “Many human chimeras show no noticeable signs of their condition. Others have more obvious physical findings, such as a female having a male voice. Doctors at the University of Edinburgh in 1998 had a patient referred to them concerning an un-descended left testicle. However, when they examined him they could not find a second testicle. Instead they found something quite odd, ovaries and fallopian tubes. The patient was a chimera formed from the fusion of a male and female embryo. While this is an important finding, most chimeras show more common signs, such as multi-colored eyes, or multi-colored hair” (Cynthia Wood).

         The term chimera came from the Greek myth about a monster with three different animals’ body parts. This creature had the body of a lion, the head of a goat, and the tail of a serpent and had the ability to breathe fire. The creature was born from Pegasus kicking the fountain that belonged to the muses of Mount Helicon. The chimera was terrorizing a village in the countryside of Lykia in Anatolia. The hero Bellerophon was commanded to slay it by order of King Iobates. Bellerophon rode into battle against the chimera on the back of the winged horse Pegasus, stabbed the chimera in the throat with a lead tipped lance and suffocated the creature with its own flame. While the chimera was alive and terrorizing the countryside, the villages emotions were ones of fear. After the beast was slain the emotions turned to happiness. The hero of course felt triumph and pride.

         There are other stories of chimeras in the modern day times.

Today there are science reports of pigs being born with human blood as a result of embryonic animal stem cell research. Sheep are being altered to raise the number of hearts and livers that can be transplanted into humans, by giving them human hearts and livers, so when the animals breed their offspring will have the organs too. In Canada there are experiments occurring where mice are being combined with human embryos so that there will be a more accurate test subject for new medicines. These animals will be better than that of the current test subjects, as they will show symptoms that could show up in humans because they will have more human like characteristics.









































Works Cited



chimera. (2010). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved July 27, 2010, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9024110



Arakawa, Hiromu “Full Metal Alchemist” TV Show

         January 2001—Still Running

   

Chimera. (2010). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved July 27, 2010, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9024109



Wood, Cynthia. “The Not So Legendary Chimera.” Damn Interesting.

         February 15, 2006