Scientists develop artificial blood that could save lives in emergency situations

Tens of thousands of people Bleed Every year in the United States before they can go to a hospital. That is because ambulances, medical helicopters and military doctors cannot wear routine blood, which would go bad too quickly without sufficient cooling.

So scientists have been looking for artificial blood that can be stored in powder form and can be reconstituted by doctors to save lives on site.

At the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, where part of this study is being conducted, a white rabbit is on the floor of a cage. It is on a “special intensive care that we have created for our rabbit resuscitation,” says Dr. Allan DoctorA scientist at the school.

The doctor’s team has just emptied the animal’s blood to simulate what happens to a person bleeding due to an injury, such as a car accident or battlefield wound.

“This rabbit is still in shock. You can see that he is lying very quietly. It is as if he was at the scene of an accident,” says Doctor. “If we didn’t do anything, it would die.”

Dr. Allan Doctor leads artificial blood tests at the Center for Blood Oxygen Transport and hemostasis at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. He was also co-founder of a company, Kalocyte, to develop the blood substitute.

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But Doctor and his team are going to save this rabbit today. They are going to fill his veins with something that they hope will finally enable a goal that researchers have hinders for decades: developing artificial blood safely and effectively.

“Good bunny,” says Danielle Waters, a technician in the doctor’s team, gently lifting the rabbit and starts infusing him with three large syringes of artificial blood.

The doctor’s team makes synthetic blood of hemoglobin, the protein that the body feeds with oxygen. The researchers extract hemoglobin from cut blood and enclose the protein in a bubble of fat, essentially creating artificial red blood cells.

The protective bubble is the innovation that, according to the doctor, will solve the safety problems caused by other attempts to make synthetic blood. These other efforts also used hemoglobin, but exposed hemoglobin can be toxic to organs, he says.

“We have to veil the hemoglobin in a cell. It is an artificial cell that makes it safe and effective,” says Doctor.

The scientists then freeze the artificial red blood cells in a powder that can remain good until an emergency.

“It is designed so that it is currently necessary, a medic it can mix with water and within a minute you have blood,” says Doctor.

“It is plank stable for years and it can be easily transported. And so the point is so that you can give a transfusion at the location of an accident,” says Doctor.

Stopping occurring deaths

Freeze -dried artificial blood developed in the doctor’s laboratory can be reconstituted with water and be infused in an animal testing. Ultimately, the research team hopes to test this in people, with the help of product derived from human red blood cells.

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In addition to use in urgent medicine, military doctors can also use artificial blood to save injured soldiers. The Ministry of Defense spends more than $ 58 million for one Consortium that develops the synthetic blood of the doctorTogether with other components that make coagulation possible and retain blood pressure.

“The number 1 cause of common death on the battlefield is still bleeding today,” says Col. Jeremy PamplinThe project manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. “That is a real problem for the army and for the civil world.”

Doctor is optimistic that his team may be about to resolve that problem with his artificial red blood cells, spinning erythromer. Doctor was co -founded Calocyte Develop the blood and serves on the board and as head of the company’s scientific officer.

“We have been able to successfully summarize all the functions of blood that are important for a resuscitation in a system that can be stored for years at ambient temperature and can be used on the scene of an accident,” he says.

Promising results in animal testing

Scientist Ruby McASLAN is working on hemoglobin purification in the cold room in Kalocyte in the Center for Blood Oxygen Transport and hemostasis at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

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Back in the laboratory, waters is ready with all three bottles of synthetic blood in the rabbit after about 10 minutes.

“My goodness, rabbit, you did it,” she says, placing him back in his cage. “We’re going there.”

Almost immediately a monitor appears that follows the vital signs of the rabbit that his heartbeat, blood pressure and other important metrics have recovered from almost death to almost normal. He starts to resume normal behavior, such as only moving and drinking water.

“The really good sign is that he is very pink,” says Doctor. “His eyes are pink. His ears are pink. That is a good sign that he has a lot of oxygen in his blood and it is effectively distributed. He breathes comfortably and calmly. It is amazing how fast it can work.”

Doctor’s team has tested their artificial blood on hundreds of rabbits and so far it looks safe and effective.

“It would change the way we can take care of people who bleed outside hospitals,” says Doctor. “It would be transforming.”

Like other rabbits used in these experiments, this animal will be euthanized later, so that the researchers can perform a necropsia to ensure that the artificial blood has not caused tissue or organ damage.

Human trials that still have to come

Although the results seem to be a reason for optimism so far, Doctor says that he still has to prove to the Food and Drug Administration that his artificial blood would be safe and effective for people.

But he hopes to test it with people within two years. A Japanese team is already test A similar synthetic blood in humans.

“I am very hopeful,” says Doctor.

Other experts remain careful. Many promising attempts to create artificial blood turned out to be unsafe.

“I think it’s a reasonable approach,” says Tim EstepA scientist at Chart Biotech Consulting who consults with companies that develop artificial blood.

“But because this field has been so challenging, the evidence will be in the clinical tests,” he adds. “Although I am generally optimistic, it is currently difficult to place a bet on a technology.”