The End of Blood Donation?
Blood is made up of a few major components. What you may first think of are red blood cells, which contain a compound called hemoglobin which makes your blood red and carries oxygen around your body. There are also three other major components. White blood cells fight off invaders, plasma is the clear liquid which contains hormones and clotting factors, and platelets which also help with blood clotting.
If you’re like me, you have donated or considered donating blood, whether through the Red Cross or other, smaller blood donation clinics. What is usually donated is whole blood, which contains all four major blood components which are tested for blood type and viruses before going to a recipient in need. There are many reasons why someone might need a blood transfusion, including blood loss and blood disorders such as sickle cell disease.
For the first time ever, lab grown red blood cells have been given to volunteers. The RESTORE clinical trial — joint between the NHS and the University of Bristol — has grown blood in the laboratory for transfusion. They took a few stem cells from donors’ blood and grew them into many red blood cells, so that less donor blood was needed. Stem cells can even be immortalized so no donors would be needed at all. This lab-grown blood is expected to last in patients’ bodies for longer than typical blood donations. It is estimated that these will last 120 days — or just about 4 months — inside the body. If this is proven true, then lab grown transfusions may not be needed as often as standard transfusions.
So far, there have been no adverse effects to the RESTORE trial. More than ten participants are in the trial, lasting at least until March 2023, with further trials incoming depending upon whether this one goes well.
There are places in the world where it is unsafe to collect blood, whether due to illness or lack of refrigeration. This is where fully synthetic blood comes in. Synthetic blood may sound like science fiction, but scientists have been working hard to make it a reality since before blood transfusions were invented. Where the RESTORE trial only gave red blood cells, synthetic blood products are designed to emulate either red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, or plasma. For the movement of oxygen and carbon dioxide, as red blood cells do, some scientists are looking at materials called perfluorocarbons while others are looking at hemoglobin based products. Research is still several breakthroughs from creating viable synthetic blood.
Whether the future of blood is lab grown or synthetic, you may be seeing less need for blood donors in the coming decades.
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