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Research needed to combat stored red blood cell power decline, study indicates

Monday 18th July 2011
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    The longer red blood cells are stored, the lower their lifesaving power, a new study has revealed.

    A Duke University Medical Center team revealed that banked blood undergoes a change during storage which inhibits its ability to transport oxygen, according to the study published in journal Critical Care Medicine.

    Somehow slowing the process of the gradual loss of this key feature, boosting the longevity and vitality of stored blood, could be instrumental in saving many patients suffering from life threatening conditions such as cancer, acute heart syndromes, trauma, and other critical illnesses.

    Moreover, stored red blood cells were also seen to lose the ability to release key molecule adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP), meaning older transfused cells are more likely to adhere to the blood vessels in the lungs rather than transporting their oxygen round the body.

    This process could put patients at risk of heart attacks, respiratory failure and other complications.

    Senior study author Timothy J McMahon said: "We show that the export of ATP is important to prevent red blood cells from sticking to the inner lining of blood vessel walls.

    "Whereas previous reports had shown increasing adhesion as a function of storage time, there were very few studies on the mechanism of that adhesion."

    In other news, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have developed an improved technique for generating large numbers of blood cells from a patient's own.

    Results from the research, published in journal Stem Cells, will be immediately useful in further stem cell studies and could eventually be utilised in therapies for illnesses such as cancer and immune problems.

    However, authors admit the technique still needs perfecting as only cells from the myeloid linage were detected. While this includes red blood cells and primitive immune cells such as macrophages, researchers did not identify any cells from the lymphoid lineage such as T-cells or B-cells.

    Written by Mathew Horton
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