Expert: Walter Hintz - 2/7/2011

Question
QUESTION: dear walter

sub : blood group and type information required

meDicine branch  : pathology

we have different blood groups viz.

a,b,ab and o.

and

blood group type rh + , rh -.

ab blood group classified as universal acceptor.
o blood group classified as universal donor.

a will only accept blood group a according to proper rh
b will accept only blood group b according to proper rh
ab can accept blood from any blood group
o will only accept blooD group a according to proper rh  


1. now a question which comes to my mind is there any significance
to the letters a,b,ab and o i.e expansion or meaning to these
letters

for example

wbc : white blood corpusels
rbc : red blood corpusels

our english alphabets characters are in the sequence
a,b,c,d,e ....z. i.e 26 characters.

2.another question

after a,b,ab and then the letter is o for the blood group why not
they have named c because after a,b the letter c comes in sequence.


3. another question

in future for human being/s species will there more blood group/s
i.e c, d, e .....similar to a,b.

4. another question

what about animals blood group ?

i.e cats,fishes,birds,frogs etc

do they have similar blood group a,b,ab, o or any other
blood group/s for matching blood Donor / acceptor ?


thanks & regards,
prashant s akerkar

ANSWER: Hi Preshant;
 Question 1. Among the proteins in the blood there are two with a special significance. They are used to designate blood types and they exhibit antigenic activity. To identify them they were arbitrarily given the letters A and B. If a person has the A protein he is said to be Type A and if he has the B protein he is type B. If he has both he is AB an if neither he is type O
Question 2. The letter C is not used because there is no 3rd protein and so the O just means that neither A or B is present
Question 3. The presence of these blood proteins is determined by DNA and there is no reason to suspect any new proteins come about
Question 4. Vertebrates have blood proteins but they are dissimilar to human proteins. Dogs for example may have a dozen different blood proteins

Your information about the  reactions and antigenic activity is accurate

The Rhesus factor indicates another blood protein that is antigenic. If you have it you are
Rh+ and if you do not you are Rh-  

I you need clarification about any of this or if you have further questions get back to me

walter

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: dear walter

thank you.

suppose we carry out this new experiment given below in the best research pathology lab in u.s.a.

Experiment :

there are about 259 and above number of countries in the world.
we collect at least 10-15 blood samples from each country say in the
age group of 25-30 for both male and female gender and then send it to
the pathology lab.

it could happen that in some countries environmental conditions i.e cold climate say alaska,hill stations,mountains or hot climate like deserts can effect the blood samples ?

the aim of the experiment is to verify karl's blood transfusion law of generating the 4*4 matrix i.e 4 rows and 4 columns of donor v/s acceptor
which identifies a,b,ab and o as rows and columns with donor and reciever/acceptor.

i.e with these blood samples collected are there any more blood group/s identified ?. i.e c,d,e etc


awaiting your reply regarding this experiment,

thanks & regards,
prashant s akerkar

Answer
The A and B blood proteins are not affected by environmental conditions although they do vary within national and racial groups. AB is more common in Jewish people for example and B is more common in Africans. Strangely enough their is no B factor in Intuit (Eskimos)