Is there copper in our blood?

Normally most of the copper in your blood is carried by a protein called ceruloplasmin. Adults have 50 to 120 milligrams (mg) of copper in their body, mostly in muscle and the liver. Copper helps make melanin, bone, and connective tissue. It also helps with many other processes in your body.

The normal concentration of copper in plasma is around 1 mg/L, ranging up to about 1.5 mg/L (Bergomi et al., 1997; Ford, 2000; Romero et al., 2002; Arredondo et al., 2008). Women generally have higher plasma copper levels than men (Milne, 1998).

Various health problems can disrupt normal copper levels. This can cause you to have too little copper (copper deficiency) or too much copper (copper toxicity).

There is SOME copper in our blood

Because a normal diet has plenty of copper, copper deficiency is unlikely except in certain cases. It can occur in malnourished children. This is especially true for premature babies who don’t get nutritional supplements. Children with this condition tend to have bone abnormalities and fractures. Copper deficiency can also result from a rare genetic disorder called Menkes kinky hair syndrome. This syndrome interferes with copper absorption. Copper deficiency can lead to problems with connective tissue, muscle weakness, anemia, low white blood cell count, neurological problems, and paleness.

Too much copper can be toxic. You can get too much copper from dietary supplements or from drinking contaminated water. You can also get too much copper from being around fungicides that have copper sulfate. You can also have too much copper if you have a condition that stops the body from getting rid of copper. For example, Wilson disease keeps the liver from storing copper safely and from sending copper out of the body in your stool. Extra copper in the liver overflows and builds up in the kidneys, brain, and eyes. This extra copper can kill liver cells and cause nerve damage. Wilson disease is fatal if untreated. Extra copper can also interfere with how your body absorbs zinc and iron.

Copper and iron are essential elements in the human organism, and recent enlightening research has given increased evidence of their importance in the blood stream.

Is Rh negative blood actually copper-based?

Unlike most animals on earth, whose blood is iron-based, some mollusks (Mollusca) and arthropods (Arthropoda) have copper–based blood. While the best-known example of an arthropod with copper–based blood is the horseshoe crab, a number of other arthropods have blue blood.

Hemocyanins (also spelled haemocyanins and abbreviated Hc) are proteins that transport oxygen throughout the bodies of some invertebrate animals. These metalloproteins contain two copper atoms that reversibly bind a single oxygen molecule (O₂). They are second only to hemoglobin in frequency of use as an oxygen transport molecule. Unlike the hemoglobin in red blood cells found in vertebrates, hemocyanins are not confined in blood cells but are instead suspended directly in the hemolymph. Oxygenation causes a color change between the colorless Cu(I) deoxygenated form and the blue Cu(II) oxygenated form.

Hemocyanins are found only in the Mollusca and Arthropoda: the earliest discoveries of hemocyanins were in the snail Helix pomatia (a mollusc) and in the horseshoe crab (an arthropod). They were subsequently found to be common among cephalopods and crustaceans and are utilized by some land arthropods such as the tarantula Eurypelma californicum, the emperor scorpion, and the centipede Scutigera coleoptrata. Also, larval storage proteins in many insects appear to be derived from hemocyanins.

Ceruloplasmin is the major copper-carrying protein in the blood, and in addition plays a role in iron metabolism. It was first described in 1948. Another protein, hephaestin, is noted for its homology to ceruloplasmin, and also participates in iron and probably copper metabolism.