Plastic Blood

[Ridryder911]

Plastic Blood
By
Nov 25, 2007

Courtesy the EMS House of DeFrance http://www.defrance.org


A new medical discovery now gives plastics a whole new dimension.

Researchers in England have developed a synthetic form of blood made from plastic molecules that could help save lives when natural blood is unavailable or in short supply, such as on battlefields and during natural catastrophes.

Unlike human blood, it is easily transportable, easy to store, and doesn’t require refrigeration. It is also completely sterile and is made in “O negative” blood type, so it can be universally transfused. The plastic blood comes in a dark-red, dehydrated paste. Just add water and it’s ready to use.

Researchers around the world have been working for over 30 years to make a blood substitute that will mimic hemoglobin – a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen around the bloodstream. Other potential red blood cell substitutes haven’t worked. They’ve also been expensive to replicate in laboratories, whereas plastic blood is much more affordable.

“The holy grail would be to have artificial blood, instead of red blood cells, to use for potential blood shortages in trauma settings,” said Dr. Thomas J. Reid, chief of Hematology-Medical Oncology at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. “Outside of the military, no one currently has the capability to store major amounts of blood for emergencies.” Having stores of synthetic blood immediately available for all blood types would definitely be a boon to the medical community. Scientists also hope the plastic blood will offer further utility in treating wounded soldiers in military situations.

Plastic Copies Biology
Dr. Lance Twyman and his research team at the University of Sheffield in England have spent the past five years finding a way to make a plastic molecule that mimics the basic structure of hemoglobin. Like hemoglobin, the molecule can bind oxygen and carry it to other parts of the body.

Dr. Twyman combines porphyrin, a naturally occurring substance, and polyethylene glycol (PEG), a water-soluble polymer or plastic used in plastic bottles, to make this molecule. Since the polymer is already used to deliver drugs to the blood stream, there is some reassurance that the component will not be attacked by the body’s immune system. One important aspect of the artificial blood is that the oxygen is reversible; that is, it can take oxygen from the air in the lungs and give it up when necessary to other body tissue.

Further study is warranted before the plastic blood will be available. The team is planning to perform tests on its toxicity within the next year.

“If it’s discovered in future studies that it’s as good as red blood cells, then it could be used as a replacement for human red blood cells,” said Dr. Reid.

Plastic blood is just one example of how plastic can be used in medical innovations to help improve health and save lives. A sample of the plastic blood will be on display at the London Science Museum’s plastics exhibit, “Plasticity – 100 years of making plastics” running May 22, 2007 – January 2009.

 

[katgrl2003]

Sweet! I would love to be able to carry that on the ambulance.

-Kat

 

[Asclepius]

Great...it's in England...that means we should see it in the U.S. in about 25 years or so.

I wonder if it naturally filters itself out of the body or if the patient has to receive dialysis eventually. The concept sounds promising. I just hope they find a better way of field testing it than they did Polyheme. In my area the local governments got together in the test areas and held community meetings that gave out different colored bracelet's. They expected that the general public would wear a specific color 24/7 if they didn't want to be a test subject. Anyone who needed blood in the field that wasn't wearing this bracelet would be subject to the test.

How many of you see the little ad they put in the paper advising you on the community meeting? Moreover, how many of you would attend and then wear the bracelet all of the time after that?

 

[Summit]

How is this different from other blood replacements under testing in the US like PolyHeme?

 

[firetender]

Of course, I have Zero knowledge of any of the chemistry et al of all this but the focus of the article was on the O2 carrying capacity of the molecules. It's like: Problem - need to get from here to there; Solution - Wheels. There are so many other things not being considered, I can't imagine this being a viable option at this time. Without a chassis to support them, wheels are useless.

Talk to me after the first trials show a huge increase in strokes after use, and they add a little Teflon TM to the formula and it REALLY works.

 

[jrm818]

That article is teeny. I guarantee the science behind this is just a tad more in depth....

Why would you think it would cause strokes? This stuff (polyethelene glycol) doesn't seem to have any negative history...

 

[firetender]

That was a tongue-in-cheek comment. To be more direct, the article looked, to me, to be more like an advertising agency's hype than scientific reporting of the pros and cons of a new potential therapy. Too much was left unsaid.

 

[wolfwyndd]

My concern would be what happens a couple of days / weeks / months down the road with the patient who has been given the synthetic blood. Does the body continue to make it's own blood supply? How do you get the sythetic blood OUT of the sytem without messing with what the body makes on it's own? How are the body's organs affected by the synthetic blood?

It SOUNDS promising, but as someone else mentioned, I think a LOT more research and development needs to be done before we all go out and jump oon this bandwagon.

 

[BossyCow]

I agree, the long term effects of this kind of product are not known and can't be known for years. DES was the latest greatest thing for difficult pregnancies and they are still seeing new long term effects on that. Not to mention Thalidomide. I gotta figure the drug companies figure they can make enough during the brief market of a new drug or product to make up for the few lawsuits their insurance company ends up paying off. So what if they have to take it off the market when the side effects start showing up, they can make money before then.

I don't think I'd be giving consent for that. But my POLST (already written, signed and part of my medical record) is pretty limited on what I will allow done to me for a few more years of debilitating illness at the expense of my heirs.

 

[emtwacker710]

Great...it's in England...that means we should see it in the U.S. in about 25 years or so.QUOTE]

haha yea your right on that, we won't see it for a while if it's over there, but I do have to say that is an amazing achievment, and it will greatly help during natural disasters and wars, when the red cross can't help out or runs low on blood..