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Artificial blood suitable for human transfusion has been created
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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A group of researchers from the University of Edinburgh has been developing a technology for producing artificial blood for quite a long time. Recently, they managed to create blood that is normally accepted by the human body. As the project manager Mark Turner noted, at the initial stage of the research, patients will receive 5 ml of artificial blood, which should be enough to study the behavior of artificially created cells in a natural environment. Large-scale trials of artificial blood are scheduled for 2016, where three patients diagnosed with erythroblastic anemia (a disease that requires regular infusions of fresh blood) will take part.
It took several years for specialists to develop a technology that would turn some of the stem cells into full-fledged red blood cells. In laboratory conditions, stem cells are placed in a special environment close to the natural environment of the human body, which helps to start the process of red blood cell formation. The effectiveness of this method, according to the specialists of the research group, is quite high: about 50% of stem cells develop into red blood cells. In total, the process of creating artificial blood takes about a month. Cells suitable for further use can be separated from immature ones using the usual method of separating blood, for example, using a centrifuge. Specialists plan to produce artificial blood from a rather rare blood type - O, since this type is suitable for transfusion to almost all patients. In the future, such artificially created blood may be much cheaper than donor blood.
Experts suggest that in 20 years artificial blood will replace donor blood and, if the experiment is successful in 2016, it will be possible to talk about reaching an industrial level.
Stem cells have long been of interest to scientists. Recently, Russian specialists performed an operation to transplant stem cells taken from umbilical cord blood. The operation was performed on a child diagnosed with retroperitoneal neuroblastoma, a disease with an unfavorable prognosis. The boy, who was diagnosed with this disease in 2005, underwent an operation to transplant stem cells taken from the umbilical cord blood of his brother, who was born during the boy's treatment, and he also received peripheral stem cells from his father. Now, almost 10 months have passed since the operation and doctors can say that the operation went well, the stem cells were accepted by the child's body and the boy's condition is quite satisfactory.
The younger brother saved the boy's life by his birth and now, thanks to doctors, he is on the mend.
The operation performed by Russian specialists of the oncology center is unique in its kind. In the world, a subfrontal operation was performed to transplant stem cells from the father of a sick child. Currently, only seven operations have been performed in Russia, during which stem cells from umbilical cord blood were transplanted to patients with oncology and blood diseases of varying severity. The operation was described in detail in the journal "Cell Transplantology and Tissue Engineering".
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