The reliance on blood donors and transfusions to provide blood for hospital patients has been shown to have downsides. Donated blood must be available, the proper blood type must be used, red blood cells must be used within 42 days, and possible health complications exist for the donor and the patient. The alternative solution to this is a blood substitute, or artificial blood made with the same capabilities of human blood.
Blood substitutes have been researched for over half a century, and in 2011 a hemoglobin-based oxygen carrier (HBOC201) helped save a woman’s life following a traumatic accident (Calamia). This compound, made using components of cows’ blood, is not yet perfected; however research continues and other methods of synthesis are showing potential.
Five weeks after a baby is conceived, his or her heart begins to pump blood—it will continue this over 2.5 billion times in a 70 year lifespan.
As blood courses through the veins, it serves many purposes: it provides cells with oxygen, picks up carbon dioxide to be exhaled, delivers hormones and nutrients, fights off infections, and prevents fatal blood loss from a minor cut or abrasion (Wilson, 2006). All of these things are undoubtedly vital to life, so great care is necessary when treating patients who need blood.
Blood transfusions have existed since the 17th century, when unsuccessful attempts using sheep’s blood were reported. The first fully-successful attempt at transfusing human blood occurred in 1825, and was performed by James Blundell. Much promise was shown from these procedures, and the discovery of blood types came soon after (Ellis, 2007).
The question of blood substitutes was not commonly asked until the HIV crisis in the 1980s (Notman, 2010). The fear...
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...ion, the blood substitutes PFBOC and HBOC are very different in composition; however they both have the same potential purposes. The future of blood substitutes will replenish lost oxygen following a traumatic injury, provide cancerous tissue with oxygen flow (which could benefit chemotherapy), and treat tissue affected by sickle-cell anemia with oxygen flow. A truly identical human red blood cell has been made possible through stem cell research; however, the cost and further research are still obstacles to pass before this option is on the market (Notman, 2010). Blood substitute companies are looking to increase their products’ half lives and oxygen carrying capacities, while limiting side effects. As these goals are reached, the unforeseen applications of blood substitutes are limitless; possibly replacing and/or enhancing the effectiveness of medical practices.
BioPure Corporation, which was founded in 1984 by entrepreneurs Carl Rausch and David Judelson, is a privately owned biopharmaceutical firm specializing in the ultra purification of proteins for human and veterinary use. In 1998 Biopure pioneered the development of oxygen therapeutics using “Hemoglobin”, a new class of pharmaceuticals that are intravenously administered to deliver oxygen to the body's tissues. Biopure's two products, Hemopure for human use, and Oxyglobin for animal veterinary use, both represented a new Oxygen based treatment approach for managing patients' oxygen requirements in a broad range of potential medical applications. The factor distinguishing Biopure’s two products from other blood substitute products being developed by two possible rivals, Baxter International and Northfeild Laboratories, is that its hemoglobin based source is bovine rather than human and was derived from the blood cells of cattle. Both of Biopure’s blood substitute products were in the final stages of the approval process of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1998. Oxyglobin had just received the FDA’s approval for commercial release declaring it safe and effective for medical use. Hemopure was entering final Phase 3 clinical trials and was optimistically expected to see final FDA approval for release in 1999. The FDA approval of Oxyglobin and its possible subsequent release into the veterinary market caused concern over whether the early release of Hemoglobin would impinge BioPure’s ability to price Hemopure when the product finally received approval. Given that the two products were almost identical in properties and function, it was thought that the early release of Oxyglobin would create an unrealistic price expectation for Hemopure if released first.
On the 1950’s, the above statement drove the medical field insane, many doctors used to forced blood transfusion on Jehovah’s Witness and other doctors refused to provide treatment to those who refuse blood transfusion; even in a life threatening situation. For some time, doctors were put on a bad position, they faced a dilemma when caring for a Jehovah’s Witness patient because if a patient (Jehovah’s Witness) was not treated promptly must likely he/she would die, but if they were threated against his or her wishes with blood transfusions, the doctor was charged with “Assault”. As the time went-on, the blood transfusion topic became more controversial, mainly due to the increase number on cases of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) acquired when used contaminated blood. The Scientifics, along with the medical field were forced to work together with Jehovah’s Witness in order to develo...
Harmening, D. M. (2005). Modern Blood Banking & Transfusion Practices. Philidelphia, PA: F.A. Davis Company.
Charles Richard Drew was an African-American male born on June 3, 1904 in Washington D.C. He was very well-educated and intelligent, and he received his Doctor of Medical Science Degree in 1940 from Columbia University. During his residency at Columbia University’s Presbyterian Hospital, he became very interested in blood transfusions. Drew soon realized that the technology of blood transfusions was vastly limited; blood could only be stored for two days. He was determined to solve this dilemma because of the many lives it would save. Led by his motivation, Drew noticed that if the plasma was separated from the blood and the two were refrigerated separately, they could be combined up to a week later for a blood transfusion. He convinced Columbia University to start a blood bank and eventually established blood banks throughout Europe and the Pacific. Ironically, Drew died in 1950 after he had been severely injured in a car incident and wasn’t able to receive medical attention because of his race. According to an article entitled “Charles Drew,” “By the time he arrived at the more distant hospital for blacks he had lost so much blood that a transfusion was of no avail.” It was disputed whether or not Drew would have survived if given a blood transfusion immediately, and the story of his death angered many.
Blood types can be categorized in many different ways. Karl Landsteiner categorized “the first three blood groups…[as] A, B and C (subsequently renamed O from the German word “ohne” which means “without”)” (Franchini 1545). Each of these blood groups also have unique properties that give the blood an inability to mix with other blood types. For example, Landsteiner has found out that type-A red blood cells contains an A-antigen and anti-B in its serum (Franchini 1545). Type A blood contains the monosaccharides N-acetylglucosamine, galactose, fructose, and “a N-acetylgalactosamine attached to galactose” (Timberlake 556).The A-antigen is used as an identifier for the body to determine whether something in the bodies system belongs or ...
Blood doping could have opposite effect of those intended. A large infusion of red blood cells could increase blood thickness and cause a decrease in cardiac output and a reduction in oxygen content. Both would reduce aerobic capacity. The human heart was not designed to pump thickened blood throughout the body and, therefore, it could lead to a multitude of problems. The diseases that can be contracted from autologous blood transfusion are severe. Even more frightening is the list of diseases that can be contracted through homologous blood transfusion. It includes hepatitis, AIDS, malaria, and CMV. In addition, shock is a factor to be aware of.
Although blood transfusions had been used before the First World War, many were not successful due to lack of knowledge in this type of treatments. World War I pushed the development of blood transfusions, allowing them to be safer. Before the war in the 17th century, blood transfusions often occurred with the use of animal blood, a practice that did not achieve desired results. These transfusions often times came from sheep, and although they were sometimes successful, it was discovered that any large amounts of transfusions would cause death. Coming to the conclusion that animal blood transfusions did not save lives, scientists looked to humans for human to human transfusions. Many of these attempted transfusions were met with failure but in 1818, Dr. James Blundell accomplished the first successful human blood transfusion; four ounces of blood were transferred to the patient from her husband. From that moment on, doctors began to learn even more about blood transfusions and how to do them properly. By 1901, the four human blood groups were discovered by Karl Landsteiner; with less differences in the bloods transfused together, coagulation and clumping amounts decreased. This benefited many lives in that toxic reactions to the wrong types of blood did not occu...
It was during this time that doctors and nurses, through experience also demonstrated that blood could be stored and then safely transferred from patient to patient saving countless soldiers’ lives.
The Circulatory System is a transportation and cooling system for the body. The Red Blood Cells act like billions of little mail men carrying all kinds of things that are needed by the cells, also RBC's carry oxygen and nutrients to the cells. All cells in the body require oxygen to remain alive. Also there is another kind of cells called white blood cells moving in the system. Why blood cells protect from bacteria and other things that are harmful. The Circulatory system contains vein arteries, veins are used to carry blood to the heart and arteries to carry the blood away. The blood inside veins is where most of the oxygen and nutrients are and is called deoxygenated and the color of the blood is dark red. However, blood in the arteries are also full of oxygen but is a bright red. The main components of the circulatory system are the heart, blood, and blood vessels.
Bad Blood: A Cautionary Tale focuses on the lives of many hemophilic patients and their journey to seek medical treatment which eventually led to exposure to hepatitis and AIDS for as many at 95% of the hemophilic community. The documentary focuses on the creation and consequences of a medication known as “factor 8”, which was used to stop bleeding in patients with hemophilia. The documentary exposes pharmaceutical companies and the fact that they were using contaminated blood to create such medications. These pharmaceutical companies were using unconventional methods of obtaining blood with the addition of not testing the blood for any diseases as they were looking to fulfill the large demand of the drug in the United States and many countries around the world. The film focuses on exposing the problem of the lack of governmental regulations to protect patients against the pharmaceutical companies in the United States, especially the hemophilic community. Patients with hemophilia had access to medication that would control their disease, however, that treatment was contaminated and would eventually cost them their lives. The film has one goal and that is to expose one of the worse outbreaks of diseases in the United States. It achieves its goal by putting emphasis on the fact that many lives could have been saved if someone had listened and stopped the pharmaceutical companies who were looking to make a profit out of their newly created “miracle”
In this experiment, we determined the isotonic and hemolytic molar concentrations of non-penetrating moles for sheep red blood cells and measured the absorbance levels from each concentration. The results concluded that as the concentration increased the absorbance reading increased as well. A higher absorbance signifies higher amounts of intact RBCs. The isotonic molar concentration for NaCl and glucose is 0.3 M. The hemolysis molar concentration for NaCl and glucose is 0.05 M. Adding red blood cells to an isotonic solution, there will be no isotonic pressure and no net movement. The isotonic solution leaves the red blood cells intact. RBC contain hemoglobin which absorbs light, hemoglobin falls to the bottom of the tube and no light is absorbed. Determining the isotonic concentration of NaCl and glucose by finding the lowest molar concentration. In contrast to isotonic molar concentration, hemolysis can be determined by finding the
V. To put this need into context, currently more than 4,000 gallons of red blood cells are used in
Blood donation is a very essential procedure in the health system. The process entails collecting blood from willing donors, testing it and then separating it into its components so that it can be used on patients. Whereas hospitals are the main users of the donated blood, they are not exactly authorised to collect, test and separate it in their own premises. Most of the health institutions get the blood from larger bodies such as the Red Cross or other Community based blood groups. Though initially faced with lots of problems, blood transfusion has been used since 1667 as a solution to some of human illnesses. Since then to now, hospitals have grown so dependent on blood donation and transfusion to save human life. With it being used and applied
The first successful case of stem cell therapy in human was reported in 1959. Bone marrow restorations were observed in leukemia patients who received total body irradiation subsequent by intravenous injection of their twins’ bone marrow (Thomas et al, 1957). Nevertheless, that effect was transient and the following bone marrow transplantation attempts in non-twin patients and donors can eventually lead to patient’s death from graft-versus-host disease (Mathé et al, 1965). During that time, the safety of hematopoietic cells transplantation was not guaranteed because of the limited knowledge in human histocompatibility and immunosuppression. However, the turning point came after the discovery of human leucocyte antigen (HLA) groups (Dausset, 1958; van Rood et al, 1958), HLA typing and compatibility testing were performed prior to the transplantation. In addition, the improvement of immunosuppressive protocol also helps bringing the bone marrow transplantation to become more and more successful (Donnall and Hutchinson, 1999).
Our blood is able to connect all our organs together to create one organism and is able to transport the most vital and important molecules through these blood streams. Hence, blood cells are needed for immune system function and metabolic functions.