Hydrocarbon Blood This is the first theory I will try to explain. It is based on the assumption that the fire that is created is based on light hydrocarbons, ranging from methane (natural gas, 1 carbon atom) to octane (common car fuel, 8 carbon atoms), or some of its derivatives (see below).
Therefore, this kind of fire requires the presence of oxygen in the ambient air the blood is exposed to. Or the person must also produce the oxidant agent mixed with the 'fuel' and ignite it to produce the fire.
This way, the fire is merely a variation of our well-known flamethrowers, but until now we were unable to study with more details and conclude if this second mechanism involving oxidizer exists in the wild, though
theoretically possible.
Which hydrocarbon? How is it produced? How it is breathed?
If Vahn creates some compound, which one does he? Does he create gases of liquids? It is assumed here that Vahn probably circulates within his bloodstream a mixture of hydrocarbons of 3 to 8 carbon atoms in lenght, some of which may be linear and others branched, saturated and insaturated. These are the easiest compounds Vahn can produce in its normal biochemical reactions, are easy to store (unlike the hydrogen gas of the previous theory and methane or ethane), are quite inert chemically until mixed with an oxidizer (like air) and ignited and because they do not require very complex, pressure resistant structures for its production, storage and elimination. And they have very high calorific power (this is one of the reasons our cars run on gasoline) in contrast with common alcohol, a great property for something that was designed by evolution to burn with the greatest efficiency.
Now, over on the biochemical part of the process on the anatomy of the fire-gland and the ways of release of the flame. In most cases the so-called fire-gland is a system of two small sacks, egg shaped of about 15 to 25 centimeters long, filled with a very volatile and flamable liquid of strong smell. The gland itself is a muscular structure linked to the nervous system, allowing him to control when the chemicals are released into the bloodstream. There are two conducts that lead from the gland to the arteries. Since the structure of these ducts are quite similar to the esophagus (though far, far smaller), they have been misplaced as being some part (or kind) of the esophagus for a long time, as well as the glands were mistaken as a part of the digestive system.
The ducts end in a muscular "mouth" that usually folds over itself, both to close the duct and to stop the flow of chemicals when Vahn decides to end the flame.
The "Flamethrowing Action" Fire-spitting proceeds as follows:
- Vahn inhales air deeply (as deep as he wishes to make the flame last longer or shorter, or if the
flame itself is to be long or short) and the fire-gland is contracted, forcing the fuel through the
ducts and into the arteries.
- Vahn starts to bleed, the blood and oxygen mixes with the fuel forming a fine mist (somewhat like a car''s carburator). Simultaneously, the duct-mouth starts a very small amount of a very high heat-releasing reaction, igniting the mist and starting the fire.
- Vahn continues to increase the heat, spreading the flame as he wishes. From this we deducted the duration of the flame depends mostly of the amount of blood used and the strenght of focus and shown less relationship with the size of the fire-gland, although the amount of flame it can create is directly regulated by its size.
- Finally, when the blood ends or the user decides to end the flame, first the duct-mouth folds in itself, cutting the flow of fuel, the fire-gland is relaxed and a split second after, the flame ends itself. Again, this is a highly coordinated action taking less than 0.2 seconds.
Final Notes The hydrocarbons are produced by the normal methabolism of lipids (fats) in the cells of the human body, more specifically talking, this reaction in particular occurs in the most extent in the liver, as a part of the lipid assimilation from the food. Well, meat, in special the meat eaten from sedentarious animals (like sheep or cattle) may have a lot of fat, but plant food also may have a great amount of fat in the form of oils. Obviously, most of this fat is naturally metabolised in the energy generation processes of Vahn''s body, only a minor amout is deviated to the process of fuel production. There is nothing special about the absorption of fats in him.
Usually, the fats apported to the liver are then processed through the beta-oxidation pathway, for the energetic processes, being mostly converted in ATP and exported out of the mitochondrion. However, in Vahn, there are a set of mitochondrial membrane proteins plus an enztme for the descarboxilation of uncompletely oxidized chain of the fatty acid.
1) The decarboxilase enzyme: This enzyme is a bifunctional, water-soluble complex formed by two subunits of 85 and 10 kD of molecular weight. Studies done on the kinetics of this enzyme from several blood samples of Vahn have shown that kcat is maximum for the small fatty acids, from four to seven carbons long, and is very low for the other lenghts of chain, although is not selective when this chain is branched or substituted. This explained why we were able to detect many derivatives of fatty acids in the fire-gland. The first subunit does the decarboxilation reaction, requiring the fatty acid intermediate, NAD+ and wields NADH, H+, carbon dioxide and the decarboxilated product, which is sequentially bound by the second subunit that acts as a carrier for this molecule to reach the membrane transporter. Since the complex is soluble in the intramitochondrial matrix, this happens through diffusion. This also means the concentration of free decarboxilated products is very low. The low diffusion coefficient of the complex also means the reaction is blocked most of the time, since binding of the hydrocarbon virtually blocks the binding of substrate in the first subunit, and the product is unbound from the carrier only when it reacts with the first membrane transporter.
2) The Mitochondrial Membrane Transporter: This transporter is a 110 kD protein bound and crosssing the outer mitochondrial membrane. It has one binding site for the carbon chain generated by the enzyme complex plus a site which binds one of the chains of the carrier. Binding of the carrier promotes the transfer of a pyrophosphate moiety from the transporter to the carrier, which in turn changes its spatial configuration, releasing the hydrocarbon. Because of the proximity, the newly-released product is bound by the transporter. Hidrolysis of the pyrophosphate releases the carrier from the transporter. The transporter itself only gates to the outside when another molecule of ATP binds the pyrophosphate site, wielding AMP.
The hydrocarbon released from the mitochondrion is readily captured by another carrier protein in the cytosol, involved also in the mechanism of vesiculation and exocitosis. Vesicles formed in the liver cells also contain a membrane-bound lipoprotein that is recognized by the fire-gland cells and intermediate its assimilation and storage of the product. Also is included a protein that reduces greatly the solubility of the membranes in the hydrocarbons. In an unusual system, the vesicles pass intact through the fire-gland cells, being digested by protheolythic enzimes in the lumen of the gland and releasing the hydrocarbons.
The ignition reaction is being studied now, but seems to be based on the exothermic reaction of an organic peroxide (which releases pure oxigen) and some kind of phosphor containg, unstable compound (probably some derivative of ATP). The reaction seems to produce a very small "spark" of incandescent material that ignites the fuel-air mix.
Reply
