A blood substitute (also called artificial blood or blood surrogates) is a substance used to mimic and fulfill some functions of biological blood, usually in the oxygen-carrying sense. It aims to provide an alternative to blood transfusion, which is transferring blood or blood-based products from one person into another.
The main categories of such oxygen-carrying blood substitutes are hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers (HBOC) and perfluorocarbon-based oxygen carriers (PFBOC). Oxygen therapeutics are in clinical trials in the U.S. and Europe, and Hemopure is available in South Africa.
Read more about Blood Substitute: Oxygen-carrying Substitutes, History, Advantages Over Human Blood, Risks, Other Functions Than Carrying Oxygen
Famous quotes containing the words blood and/or substitute:
“Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil,
That mak’st my blood cold, and my hair to stare?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Indifference is an excellent substitute for patience.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)