Delhi University team designs ’portable blood substitute’

Delhi University team designs ’portable blood substitute’

mangaloretoday.com/ dailymail

New Delhi, Dec 22: A team of researchers from Delhi University claim to have developed a safe and portable blood substitute which can be used irrespective of blood groups.

The blood substitute could prove a boon for many patients who face the problem of blood shortages in emergency situations.

The team, led by professor Suman Kundu of Department of Biochemistry, has developed a laboratory-made haemoglobin which is not only blood group-neutral but also has many advantages like cheaper production cost and a long shelf life.

 

The blood substitute can prove to be a boon for patients who face the problem of unavailability of blood

“The lab-developed haemoglobin is a safe and portable blood substitute. It has multiple advantages like cheaper cost of production, longer shelf life, blood group neutrality, no associated risks of disease transmission and easy storage,” Kundu said.

Kundu, has applied for a patent for the laboratory-made haemoglobin.

“Traditional blood transfusion practice is to use blood donated by benevolent human individuals (donor). However, the worldwide supply of donated blood for transfusion therapy is always woefully short than the demand due to either general aversion to blood donation or inability to donate blood due to medical reasons,” he said.

Scientists have thus been forced to look for alternatives for donated blood, which are called artificial blood substitutes, artificial haemoglobin or haemoglobin-based oxygen carriers (HBOC).

Researchers across the world have been trying for years to develop a portable blood substitute that functions as an oxygen carrier, is stable enough to be stored for a prolonged period in different conditions, and can be used to treat individuals of any blood type - but they haven’t been successful so far.

The protein (haemoglobin) releases a chemical compound called ‘heme’ due to its breakdown under physiological conditions. Heme is severely toxic to the body when released from the haemoglobin molecule, he said.

“In India, one unit of blood (350- 400 cc) costs around Rs 500- Rs 800, while this substitute will cost at least 10-12 per cent less than that. Moreover, blood can be stored at blood banks for 40-50 days while the substitute can be stored for three years,” Kundu claimed.