5 Nanobiotechnology - based Blood Substitutes and the Cardiovascular Systems in Transfusion Medicine Thomas Ming

Red blood cell membrane contains blood group antigens, and typing and matching are needed before donor blood can be transfused into patients. This results in delays in emergency situations. Donor blood requires storage at 4oC using standard methods and is good for less than 42 d. Red blood cells cannot be sterilized to remove hepatitis viruses, HIV and other potential emerging infective agents. There is also a shortage of donor blood especially in emergencies, war or disasters. Nanobiotechnology has allowed the development of different types of red blood cell substitutes. The fi rst-generation type is a simple modifi ed hemoglobin oxygen carrier that has immediate potential for clinical uses. In particular, such substitutes do not have blood group antigens and can be Director, Artifi cial Cells and Organs Research Centre, Professor Emeritus, Departments of Physiology, Medicine and Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, 3655 Drummond Street, 10th fl oor, Room 1004, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3G1Y6; E-mail: [email protected] List of abbreviations after the text. 78 Nanomedicine and the Cardiovascular System used immediately on the spot without matching or typing. Some can be stored for more than a year at room temperature. Infective agents such as HIV and other viruses and microorganisms can be removed. However, these fi rst-generation red blood cell substitutes are only oxygen carriers and can have side effects in certain groups of patients and certain clinical conditions. New generations of red blood cell substitutes containing red blood cell antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase and catalase are being developed with promising results. The most advance red blood cell substitute is a nanodimension artifi cial red blood cell based on nanobiotechnology, but this is more complicated.