Abstract
Human blood is a vital and complex part of the human circulatory system. It carries oxygen and carbon dioxide throughout the body, as well as the nutrients absorbed from food. The blood also houses white blood cells, which are responsible for much of the body’s immune response. Finally, the blood provides its own clotting mechanism to end bleeding. If too much blood is lost to injury or surgery, blood pressure will plummet, and the patient will go into anemic shock. However, the platelets found in blood are often an insufficient mechanism for serious wounds or surgery. Patients losing blood too quickly to replace with their own red blood cells need transferred blood if they are to live. Unfortunately, viable donated blood is becoming more and more difficult to provide, even as supplies grow. A danger of contamination or unmatched blood type, coupled with an increased demand, has left blood banks short on fresh, usable blood.
Recently, a supplement to human blood has become a very real possibility. Researchers are working on ideas ranging from simple hemoglobin extracted from human blood to synthetic compounds with remarkable oxygen transport capacity. Although no proposed substitute has come close to copying the full capabilities of real human blood, innovations have shown us that a supplement is possible, especially for emergency situations. Because immediate death is caused by volume loss caused by simple fluid quantity loss as well as oxygen starvation, a supplement would need only to carry adequate supplies of oxygen and carbon dioxide throughout the body, and act as a volume filler in the circulatory system. When such a substance can be manufactured, millions of lives will be saved.