Woah: 80 million-year-old dinosaur fossil has original blood vessels
December 2, 2015
Woah: 80 million-year-old dinosaur fossil has original blood vessels
by Susanna Pilny
Researchers from North Carolina State University have determined that the structures found within an 80-million-year-old fossil are, in fact, the dinosaur’s preserved blood vessels—findings that add to the growing pile of evidence showing that certain soft tissue structures can actually survive millions of years.
Molecular paleontologist Tim Cleland was the one who began the experiment, by demineralizing (stripping the bone from) a fossil. This bone came from the leg of a Brachylophosaurus canadensis—a 30-foot-long hadrosaur (duckbilled dinosaur) that pottered about what is now known as Montana.
According to the paper published in the Journal of Proteome Research, after the bone was stripped away, what was left were structures, which resembled blood vessels in their location, morphology, flexibility, and transparency. However, researchers weren’t certain whether these structures were blood vessels, or something left behind by bacteria, slime molds, or fungi—until they were examined using high resolution mass spectroscopy.
Using this technology, the scientists discovered the structures contained multiple proteins that are specific to blood vessels, including myosin, or the protein found in the type of muscle within blood vessel walls.
Read more at http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1113411127/woah-80-million-year-old-dinosaur-fossils-has-original-blood-vessels-120215/#JTQX2iLCJiSJtYPr.99
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