Preparation of artificial human blood in the laboratory

The vehicle of human life runs on blood. But the interesting thing is that the blood acts as a servant to drive this car. It carries oxygen from the lungs to all the cells of the brain and body and carries the used carbon dioxide gas back to the lungs, which is expelled by inhalation.

Similarly, blood from our digestive system supplies glucose, vitamins, salts and other nutrients to all parts of the body and from there carries waste and harmful substances to the liver and kidneys which separate them and expel them from the body. And most of all, it is the blood that fights the germs of the disease and prevents them from entering the body.

Statistics are not available on the total annual blood requirement in the world, but the American Red Cross Society estimates that in the United States, a patient needs blood every two seconds. According to Wikipedia, the demand for human blood is growing at an annual rate of 8%, while its supply is increasing by only about 2%, reducing its supply by about 6% of its annual demand.

Human blood is used in hospitals to save the lives of patients with surgery, injuries, and many deadly diseases. Some blood diseases also require a blood transfusion, which requires a large amount of blood of a certain group.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to store human blood for a long time and even in the refrigerator it can be stored for a maximum of 42 days. In the laboratory, stem cell blood retains all its properties at room temperature for up to three years.

Scientists have been trying to make artificial blood for some time, but they have not had much success. This is because in most cases the human immune system reacts to blood containing artificial ingredients and giving artificial blood, or any of its ingredients, to the patient is harmful rather than beneficial. That's why doctors often rely on blood donations.

In many developing countries, relatives and friends of a patient prefer to buy blood instead of donating it. From which selling blood has become a profession. The majority of them are drug addicts, many of whom suffer from hepatitis, HIV, AIDS and many other dangerous diseases. The blood of these people can be dangerous for the patient.

In view of the growing need for blood and the problems associated with it, scientists turned their attention to stem cells. A team of scientists from the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom obtained stem cells from an adult bone marrow and nurtured it in a laboratory. In the human body, blood is formed in the bone marrow. Experts say that it is more beneficial to produce O-negative group blood from stem cells because it is a rare blood group and only 7% of people worldwide have O-negative blood group, while the blood of this group can be given to 98% patients.

Scientists say that the bone marrow inside the body produces a certain amount of blood, but the amount of blood produced in the laboratory can be significantly increased. They also say that at present they have obtained stem cells from bone marrow but later on other parts of the body such as human skin stem cells can also be used to produce blood.

Medical experts are convinced of the success of their experiments and say that this historic discovery will help to reduce the demand for real human blood compared to the rapidly increasing demand.

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