As we all know, blood donation is of certain benefit to the body, may reduce the risk of heart disease, you can do a free physical examination, of course, you can also remove excess iron in the blood.
The blood drawn out will be stored in blood banks everywhere, and although there is an inventory, there will still be cases where some patients cannot transfuse blood immediately, because there are too many types of blood, and different types of blood mixtures can endanger physical health and even threaten life.
Human blood types can be divided into a, b, ab and o
How do you distinguish between these blood types? We think there are two types of antibodies on the surface of red blood cells in the body, A and B. Type A blood has antigen a, type b blood has antigen b, and having both antigen a and b is ab blood, and neither is o blood.
Theoretically, due to the presence of various antigens, pairing must be performed before transfusion. If the pairing is not successful, a blood transfusion is rushed, and a serious hemolytic reaction will occur.
In response to the demand for blood, Japan invented the universal artificial blood.
According to the World Health Organization, the amount of blood donated each year is about 117.4 billion units, however, as the population continues to grow, this amount is clearly not enough.
Thankfully, scientists from Japan have found alternatives.
They have successfully developed what is known as "artificial blood," which could theoretically be applied to any patient's blood type. This means that blood transfusions no longer need to look for similar blood types.
Artificial blood is composed of artificial platelets and red blood cells, using special techniques, adding hemostatic functions and substances capable of transporting oxygen.
Not only that, artificial blood has greatly improved the storage time, can be stored at room temperature for more than one year, and the realization of mass production can also meet all the needs of the current blood transfusion market.
Artificial blood is of great significance if it can be introduced to the market, but it is still in the early stages of experimentation.
So far, artificial blood has only been tested on rabbits, and in 10 trials, the results have been mixed.
In the experiment, after injecting artificial blood into 10 rabbits with liver damage, 6 of them survived, and scientists believe that the survival rate of rabbits in the experiment is the same as the success rate in ordinary blood transfusions.
However, whether artificial blood has a long-term chronic effect on rabbits, researchers cannot determine, nor is it clear whether this will lead to more health problems.
People with type O blood may not be able to sit still: Isn't type O blood "universal blood"? Why do we have to spend so much energy studying artificial blood?
According to the previous statement, type O blood has no anti-a and anti-b, so many people think that o type is universal blood, and even because of their own blood type and are complacent.
Debunking: Type O blood is not really universal blood
First of all, the blood composition is very complex, in addition to red blood cells, platelets and plasma and other components, there are some antibodies a or antibody b, if these antibodies are transfused into other blood types, it will also cause adverse reactions, so clinically adhere to the same blood type transfusion.
At last
The trend of artificial blood is inevitable, the population increases, natural disasters and traffic accidents increase, and people are selfish and unwilling to donate blood, and the blood in the blood bank must not meet the demand.
Although artificial blood is not yet succeeding, once it succeeds, it will open a new chapter in humanity.