Monday, November 21, 2011

First Lab-Grown Blood Transfusion a Success

Researchers at Pierre and Marie Curie University have successfully completed the first-ever artificial blood transfusion after extracting stem cells from a patient's bone marrow, which were then used to grow the red blood cells under laboratory settings.

"After five days, 94 to 100 percent of the blood cells remained circulating in the body. After 26 days, 41 to 63 percent remained, which is a normal survival rate for naturally produced blood cells." The cells carried oxygen throughout the patient's body, just as normal red blood cells would.

"The results show promise that an unlimited blood reserve is within reach," says Luc Douay, of Pierre and Marie Curie University, Paris. The transfusion's success is an important step towards mass produced artificial blood. Only a small amount of blood was transfused in the experiment. A complete real-life transfusion would require 200 times the amount of blood used by Douay.

[Source: New Scientist]

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