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:
“Oh, God! that bread should be so dear,
And flesh and blood so cheap!”
—Thomas Hood (1799–1845)
“The true artist doesn’t substitute immorality for morality. On the contrary, he always substitutes a finer morality for a grosser one.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)