Nocturnus

A Scientific Impossibility?

Medically impossible? On the contrary, most paranormal vampire characteristics, if not all, can be explained by science.

As for mortals who have come in contact with a paranormal vampire, and carry some significant amount of their blood in them, there's certainly no medical miracle there. Vampires have abnormally white skin, low body temperature, low blood pressure and heart rate; when they do not feed, they become weak. All these things are easily explainable by the fact that vampire blood cells rapidly devour and destroy human blood cells, resulting in severe anemia. All the symptoms are very consistent with an anemic state. Vampires do not need to breathe, not really. Their oxygen demand is nowhere near that of a human being. This, it seems to me, is a perfect adaptation to chronic and severe, measurable by no human parameters, anemia.

The major problem with severe anemia is the lack of red blood cells (RBC). RBCs are a little more than an oxygen carrying sack. They contain a structure called heme. Heme, with it's coordinated ferric (iron) rings, is the oxygen binding and the oxygen carrying component of blood. Well, vampires quickly destroy the heme-carrying RBCs, their own cells devour them. Hence, I imagine, the heme content of vampire blood is low, really low. What's a more convenient way to circumvent that problem than a low oxygen demand. Mortals "infected", for a lack of a better word, with blood of a paranormal vampire, on the other hand, are still very much human, with human oxygen needs. They are in constant physical pain, especially after even the smallest physical exertion, when the oxygen needs of the human body increase. The pain feels like you've just run a marathon, on account of the lactic acid build-up, a by-product of anaerobic (no oxygen) metabolism. The typical muscle soreness, like you want to rip your flesh off. Then there's the feeling like there's never enough air, gasping for breath. Except there is always enough air, their blood can just not bind the oxygen and use it. These mortals are in a stage of chronic hypoxia (not enough oxygen), because of chronic and severe anemia. Their RBCs have been destroyed by the vampire blood. They show up with hematocrit (clinical measure of heme) that is dangerously low, and sometimes non-viable, by medical guidelines. These mortals also present with dangerously low blood pressure, and heart rate as well. Along with bleaching of the skin and general weakness. This is also on the account of severe and chronic anemia. You see? All perfectly explainable.

Vampires have increased speed and agility. There is an enzyme, called CaM Kinase. It's the thing that, when activated, causes actin-myosin bridge cycling, in other words, muscle contraction of so called high-twitch muscles, meaning skeletal muscle, arms, legs, that sort of thing. Vampires, I think, show elevated levels of this enzyme. There are other things in addition to CaM Kinase, but that's the most important one.

Vampires have enhanced night vision and iridescent eyes. Taperatum lucidium is a layer of the eye that absorbs and reflects light over the retina. It is found in all nocturnal species, and it accounts for both the night vision and the iridescent appearance of the eyes. It also accounts for the terrible sun intolerance of the eye. "Infected" mortals can't stand the sun. The eyes sting, feel as if knives are being continually stabbed into them. The sun is blinding, they can't see in daylight, especially on bright sunny days. Those days are their worst nightmare. They can, however, see at night, even with dark sunglasses on.

Vampires are capable of inducing visions, trances, etc. There is a naturally occurring psychedelic, called DMT. It's not impossible that this chemical is elevated in the vampire brain.

Vampires are able to ingest large amounts of blood. Humans can not. The problem is the excess amount of iron in blood. Vampires have enzymes that can filter excess iron and a more finely developed net of capillaries to absorb it from the gut, or whatever the gut has turned into. It's easy enough to imagine. In addition, vampires, like vampire, blood-drinking bats, are equipped with a chemical called Drakulin. Drakulin is an anti-coagulant, and a thing that prevents the constriction of veins, allowing for the continuous flow of blood. Nice, hm? And all perfectly natural. "Nature takes care of its monsters (predators)", Lestat.

There is another substance, Ectodysplasin A. It's a thing that, in elevated amounts, is capable of inducing tissue displasia, or morphological change. This could account for all the visible changes, of the canine teeth, skin, and internal organs. "Infected" mortals undergo some of these changes. As a result, they can tolerate significant amounts of ingested blood. Also, they have severe problems tolerating human food, resulting in vomiting and/or diarrhea within minutes of food consumption. Accompanied by nearly constant stomach pain. In other words, what comes in, must come out, with only the minimal amount of nutrients absorbed. Halflings, especially the ones who do not ingest blood, get very thin, they are dizzy all the time, they pass out, and end-up in emergency rooms on countless IVs.

The increased healing abilities. An increase in white blood cell (WBC) production, a component of which are responsible for wound healing, is perfectly feasible, and can explain not only the rapid wound healing, but also the complete resistance to disease. The mortals, on the other hand, are an unluckier sort of creature. When vampire blood cells enter the human body, they are not destroyed. They are not destroyed because they are not recognized as antigens, as something foreign and in need of destroying. They are not recognized because they contain a coating that masks them, so that they are undetectable by the human immune system. That, in itself, is not a problem. The problem is that vampire cells destroy human leukocytes (WBCs). The more blood, the more destruction. Especially of the neutrophils. Neutrophils are our first line of defense, they account for some 90% of all WBCs. "Infected" mortals can come up with virtually no detectable neutrophils. They also destroy the antibody-producing B-cells. Halflings, thus, especially if they do not consume human blood which would replenish their immune system, have severely compromised immune systems. They are sick all the time. Bacterial infections, especially of the lungs, and all other epithelial surfaces. And high fevers. In addition, vampire cells fuse with human cells, and transform them, as in insert their altered genetic material into the human cells, and change them. First the blood cells, then the tissues. "Infected" mortals manifest with strange morphological appearance of tissues, especially rapidly dividing tissues, such as the epithelium, where there is less chance for detection and prevention of replication of altered cells and chromosomes. Frequently, these things are diagnosed as "atypical" epithelial cancers. They do not look exactly like cancer, but they look enough like cancer. Cancer, in the end, are immortalized cells. So we get to the issue of immortality.

Vampires are immortal. The greatest impossibility. Or is it? The major culprit of immortality, at least cellular immortality is telomerase. Telomerase is an enzyme that maintains telomere length. Telomeres are repeats of useless genetic material that are found on the ends of all human chromosomes. Their sole purpose is to keep the cell alive. Telomerase is normally inactivated very soon after embryonic development and birth, so that with each cell division, telomeres, the ends of chromosomes, get shorter and shorter. When they reach a critical length, the cell enters senescence. It will no longer divide, and it will eventually die. The telomeres of old people are much shorter then those of 20 and 30 year olds. If telomerase is reactivated, the cell will regain it's telomeres and not only become immortal but will divide again. In humans, this is cancer. Immortal cells. Be it malignant, invasive cancer of benign tumors, that by their sheer size and location can be either extremely problematic or lethal. Telomerase reactivation is just one of the components that regulates cell immortality, and alone, it is not enough. There are several key check-points in the cell cycle that regulate cell division. All of them are concentrated on the prevention of division of cells that carry altered genetic material, mutations. They are controlled by the so called proto-oncogenes, the intracellular signaling molecules that push the cell cycle forward, thus favoring cell division, and tumor suppressors, the gene products that put a stop to cell division. It's a human body's way to maintain a normal, non-altered cell composition. It is also what makes man mortal.

I don’t know what the cellular profile of a vampire cell looks like. Do they up-regulate proto-oncogenes? Do they down-regulate tumor suppressor genes? Do they override the cellular checkpoint that exist to prevent the replications of cells with altered genetic material? Probably all of those things. Point being, their enhanced immune system is probably, obviously, enough to prevent cancer-development, and maintain cellular immortality. Vampires are thus, cancer-free and immortal. Mortals carrying blood of a paranormal vampire, on the other hand, are very rapidly mortal. You can imagine how a combination of the weakened immune system and possible oncogene/tumor suppressor imbalance coupled to telomerase reactivation, at least in some cells, provides a double-edged knife for them. Mostly, however, I think they do not die of cancer or cancer-like illnesses, but because they get sick and die on the account of their weakened immune system, and the inability to gain enough nutrition to sustain human life. "Some live, some die, they all suffer", I think Marius said. True.

And no, there is no cure, there is no way out of this. Vampire cells transform and destroy human cells and not the other way around. The process is as irreversible as it is one-way. And it's continuous. Transformed cells transform more human cells, on and on and on, but never enough and never completely, and down the slope we go. And there's no stopping it. And there's no reversing it. At least not to my knowledge. I am, however, interested in what Runar will say. The missing link. The missing link is how these things, these rather drastic changes, can occur so fast. Over night in a transformation. I don't know that there is a "natural", medical explanation for that. Not yet, anyway. But, there are all kinds of very rapid, instantaneous changes, adaptations in nature. It's all perfectly possible. More than that, it's very explainable without any hocus-pocus magic. It's probable.