Scientists Devise Life Saving Artificial Blood

Researchers have devised synthetic blood with the aim of using it for humans in case of emergencies.

Dr. Radu Silaghi-Dumitrescu from the Babeş-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, led the research.

Other researchers had been trying to create this synthetic blood the past six years, but the fluid was not able to bear the chemical and mechanical stress that it was put through.

The license to create this blood was given to the institution by UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

The main ingredients of the blood are salts, water and a protein called hemerythrin, which is extracted from sea worms. The researchers found that hemerythrin protein can withstand the stress unlike hemoglobin. No negative effects were observed when the blood was tested on mice.

"Mice treated with this 'Made in Cluj' artificial blood did not experience any side effects, and this is precisely what we want," Dr. Silaghi-Dumitrescu said in a Softpedia report.

The artificial blood substitutes real blood's function of supplying oxygen to the tissues and cells of the body for the span of a few hours or at the most the whole day. The trial for this blood involving humans is likely to be carried out after a year or two for verifying the actual impact of the blood.

 The researchers also plan to invent an 'instant blood' using hemerythrin and salts, which can turn into artificial blood as soon as water is added to it. This instant blood mixture can be transported easily.

This invention will aid in meeting blood shortage in emergency situations.