
Synthetic red blood cells mimic natural ones, and have new abilities - headalgorithm
https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/presspacs/2020/acs-presspac-june-3-2020/synthetic-red-blood-cells-mimic-natural-ones-and-have-new-abilities.html
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01100011
Red blood cells are more than bags of hemoglobin. The membrane is responsible
for limiting the interaction of nitric oxide with hemoglobin, which
deactivates the NO and causes vessel contraction. There may also be active
release of NO by RBCs under hypoxic conditions, but I don't think we've proved
that yet. This is interesting work, but a long way from being safe and
practical.

Edit: Sorry, wrong link.

[https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2018.0012...](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2018.00125/full)

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pauljburke
Wonder what impact that could eventually have on people with Sickle Cell or
Beta thalassemia (or the rare case that hits the genetic jackpot and has
both).

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robbiep
My bet is before this particular branch of technology reaches maturity, the
CRISPR tech tree will have solved that particular problem

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pauljburke
I don't follow medical tech religiously but read the original article and
thought it relevant (I have a friend that actually has both conditions and the
treatment for it is brutal).

Looks like I have more to read up on, thanks!

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choeger
If I am not completely mistaken, this opens up a whole new route for targeted
treatments. Now the question is, how long does it take from diagnosis to the
creation of a viable amount of synthetic blood for treatment? Say you have
cancer and these cells carry a targeted anti cancer drug directly to the tumor
(because they in turn need much oxygen). How long would it take from biopsy to
having a liter or so of that stuff ready?

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modeless
Cool, could these be modified to let people hold their breath underwater for
hours like seals or sea turtles?

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ccvannorman
IANAS, but I like to think that Yes, you can hold your breath longer with
synthetic blood. Popular Mechanics covered this in 2006[1], an article I will
never forget. But it's a speculative piece. More research has been done
recently, a cursory google search for "synthetic blood" indicates many
possibilities.

[1]
[https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a646/2713146...](https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a646/2713146/)

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ruste
I am also not a seal, but this sounds really fascinating and so tantalizingly
plausible.

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justinclift
Interesting process. Sounds like a microscopic version of moulding, then
casting.

Wonder if they were able to make multiple synthetic cells from each original
red blood cell, or if it was limited to a 1-to-1 thing in this initial working
approach?

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danielovichdk
A great new doping product

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xwdv
tl,dr: the new blood cells can kill cancers and flush out toxins.

