Saturday, October 24, 2015

Synthetic Blood Development Could Be a Breakthrough for Trauma Patients 

Whales and other deep sea diving mammals can hold their breath and keep active for extended amounts of time on just one breath.  This is due to the vast amounts of myoglobin (a protein that helps to hold oxygen in the body) stored in the large mammals’ muscles.

Researchers from Rice University have done studies for quite some time on the myoglobin in the bodies of whales and other marine mammals to hopefully be able to come up with synthetic blood for human trauma patients.  Because the myoglobin in whales can hold so much oxygen, this in turn could be beneficial to humans.  “Whales and other deep-diving marine mammals can pack 10-20 times more myoglobin into their cells than humans can, and that allows them to ‘download’ oxygen directly into their skeletal muscles and stay active even when they are holding their breath” said biochemist, John Olson in a statement.

Whales have a large amount of myoglobin in their muscles which is why they can stay under water for so long.  Humans have less myoglobin in their bodies which is why it is difficult to hold their breath for extended amounts of time.  If synthetic blood were to be developed for trauma patients, it would provide hospitals with a larger blood supply.  This in turn would allow patients to receive blood quicker as well as have that blood “take up” oxygen more efficiently. 
I found this article very interesting.  Although there are many people that donate blood, having synthetic blood on hand could make it easier for patients to be matched for a specific blood type as well as make more blood if needed instead of waiting for a donation. 
To read more, click here and here 

1 comment:

  1. It is good to have an ability to create synthetic blood. This could allow be useful for people who have blood diseases that require blood transfusion. I read an article about a teenage who had a rare blood disease that causes high level of toxic iron to build up in his blood and needs a transfusion once every 18 days; this would help him and the blood bank supply could be replenished quicker than from donations alone.

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