🚀 go-pugleaf

Radium wrote:
> onehappymadman@yahoo.com wrote:
> > Radium wrote:
> > > Path:
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> > > From: "hanson" <hanson@quick.net>
> > > Newsgroups:
> > > sci.med.pathology,bionet.molbio.proteins,sci.physics,sci.chem,sci.med
> > > References: <1136143280.750000.71290@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>
> > > Subject: Re: Thermal Burn Injury -- Why Does it Appear *White*?
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> > > Date: Sun, 01 Jan 2006 20:44:10 GMT
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> > >
> > > >First the transparent proteins denaturate/coagulate and turn white.
> > >
> > > So what makes the burn look white, the denaturation or the coagulation?
> > > If the denatured proteins in the burn were not allowed to coagulate [as
> > > would be the case under my 'rules'], would the burn still look white?
> > >
> > > >Then keep frying and its glyco/sugar type components caramelize
> > > >and turn brown, and upon further frying they "char" into black stuff,
> > >
> > > Proteins have glyco/sugar components? Never knew proteins contain
> > > carbohydrates.
> >
> >
> > Maybe not "carbohydrate" exactly [Cn(H2O)n] , but nitrogen, carbon,
> > hydrogen, oxygen, close enough.
> >
> > http://web.mit.edu/esgbio/www/lm/proteins/aa/aminoacids.html
> >
> > Proteins have a repeating N-C-C backbone, as is explained in any
> > college-level biology and chemistry text...
>
> Okay
>
> > Just to throw a wrench into the works, would white blood cells also
> > contribute to the white color?
>
> I am not sure about this. The epidermis doesn't have any blood supply.
> Thus it is unlikely that a 1st-degree burn [which only injures the
> epidermis] would result in white blood cells being in the epidermis of
> the burn region. I doubt that there would be any more white blood cells
> in the epidermis of the burn region than there would be in epidermis of
> non-burned regions [i.e. ZERO].
>
> > Take some chicken breast and throw it in the microwave for a couple of
> > minutes, notice the color... what do you see?  (Make sure it's
> > thoroughly cooked before eating!)
>
> Chicken turns from pink to white when heated. Beef turns from red to
> brown when heated. This is probably due to thermal-denaturation of the
> myoglobins present in the meat.
>
> However, this is very different from what happens in the
> 1st-degree-burned epidermis. The epidermis does not contain any
> hemoglobins or myoglobins.
>
> I ^think^ -- but DON'T *know* that -- the 'whiteness' in a 1st-degree
> burn is due to thermal-denaturation of the proteins that make up the
> epidermis. If these denatured proteins were NOT allowed to coagulate
> [as is the case under my 'rules'] would the burn still appear white?

Rather than guess, I suggest you scrape some of the skin off at the
burn site and put it under a microscope. Nothing like empirical
observation to trump wild guesses.

PD