Peanut Allergy Problems. . .

So today in class Prof. Didem brought in halva, a delicious dessert that contained walnuts. Fortunately, I do not have to constantly check labels to make sure they are “nut free” but when I babysit I have to constantly look for these labels. So today I decided to actually find out what happens during a allergic reaction to peanuts.

While on Google, I was surprised to find that histamines are the prime players in allergic responses. Histamines are heavily involved in local immune responses and are derived from  the decarboxylation of histidine. Let’s pretend I’m allergic to peanuts and I accidentally ingested a peanut butter cookie. . .

At first, the body mistake the peanut for a deadly substance and release antibodies, which in turn release histamine to eliminate the problem. Histamines then run to different parts of the body producing different biological response. For example, the heart contains histamine receptors that drastically decrease heart rate. Skin also contains these receptors and when they detect histamine they cause swelling. Breathing issues also arise when receptors on the lungs detect histamines.

I didn’t really look into the medical solution for peanut allergy reactions but given the important role of histamine in causing these biological responses, I would assume that there would be chemicals that block the binding of histamine to its receptors. I think this is really cool because it delved into the field of immunology and gives me a better idea of how scientists approach these problems.