Artificial blood is a substance that is designed to have the same functions and properties as normal blood and it would provide an alternative to blood transfusions. It is used as a substitute for blood for patients who cannot receive human blood. Patients whose immune system has developed a resistance to the donated blood or patients who cannot accept donated blood because of religious reasons would have an alternative solution that could save their lives. People have searched for replacements for blood for hundreds of years but no real progress has been made until 1616. In that year a physician named William Harvey discovered how blood circulates through the body. In the next few years, scientists tried many different substances
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Ringer had created a solution containing sodium, potassium, and calcium salts. Ringer’s solution has been tested on frogs with successful results. Today Ringer’s solution is used as a blood-volume expander to treat patients with low blood pressure due to severe blood loss. Since it does not mimic the functions of red blood cells, it is not a true blood substitute. Over the past several years, there has been an increase in the demand for artificial blood. The lack of blood supplies in remote areas or blood shortages are some of the reasons for the demand. The military has also pushed for more research because they need an abundant supply of blood that can be easily stored. Fear of contaminated blood is another major reason for the need for a blood substitute, especially during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. During this epidemic, scientists discovered that diseases could be transmitted from person to person by blood transfusions with contaminated …show more content…
Many doctors have stopped using perfluorocarbon-based oxygen carriers and hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers in their patients. After many trials, they have learned that patients that received any type of artificial blood died more frequently than patients that received real blood. The death rate of using artificial blood is about 30%. Pharmaceutical companies have had issues with proving the efficiency of artificial blood. Scientists have trouble comparing artificial blood to human blood because they are very different from each other, which makes it harder to develop accurate results. Another controversy involving artificial blood comes from the way artificial blood has been tested on human. Northfield Laboratories have been injecting patients with PolyHeme, a type of HBOC, without patients’ consent in 20 different hospitals throughout the United States from 2004 to 2006. Northfield Laboratories have been accused of violating medical ethics. Some athletes have been know to inject artificial blood into their bloodstream to be used as a performance-enhancing drug. It is known as blood doping and its purpose is to increase the amount of oxygen in their blood. (Wilson,
Ringer had created a solution containing sodium, potassium, and calcium salts. Ringer’s solution has been tested on frogs with successful results. Today Ringer’s solution is used as a blood-volume expander to treat patients with low blood pressure due to severe blood loss. Since it does not mimic the functions of red blood cells, it is not a true blood substitute. Over the past several years, there has been an increase in the demand for artificial blood. The lack of blood supplies in remote areas or blood shortages are some of the reasons for the demand. The military has also pushed for more research because they need an abundant supply of blood that can be easily stored. Fear of contaminated blood is another major reason for the need for a blood substitute, especially during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. During this epidemic, scientists discovered that diseases could be transmitted from person to person by blood transfusions with contaminated …show more content…
Many doctors have stopped using perfluorocarbon-based oxygen carriers and hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers in their patients. After many trials, they have learned that patients that received any type of artificial blood died more frequently than patients that received real blood. The death rate of using artificial blood is about 30%. Pharmaceutical companies have had issues with proving the efficiency of artificial blood. Scientists have trouble comparing artificial blood to human blood because they are very different from each other, which makes it harder to develop accurate results. Another controversy involving artificial blood comes from the way artificial blood has been tested on human. Northfield Laboratories have been injecting patients with PolyHeme, a type of HBOC, without patients’ consent in 20 different hospitals throughout the United States from 2004 to 2006. Northfield Laboratories have been accused of violating medical ethics. Some athletes have been know to inject artificial blood into their bloodstream to be used as a performance-enhancing drug. It is known as blood doping and its purpose is to increase the amount of oxygen in their blood. (Wilson,