Red Blood Cell Substitutes

Presents an up-to-date treatment of research strategies, clinical and commercial developments, and regulatory and economic issues pertaining to the formulation of effective and safe red blood cell substitutes. The text examines regulatory and socioeconomic aspects of blood substitute products, and global tranfusion practices from the perspective of blood banks and the US Food and Drug Administrations. It also includes the mechanisms of action and consequences of blood substitute administration.

Currently, hemoglobin (Hb)-based oxygen carriers (HBOCs) are leading candidates as red blood cell substitutes. In addition, HBOCs are also potential oxygen therapeutics for treatment of patients with critical ischemic conditions due to atherosclerosis, diabetes and other conditions. This book will provide readers a comprehensive review of topics involved in the HBOC development. It focusses on current products and clinical applications as well as on emerging technologies and future prospects.

Since there are many different tissues and organs in the body, a study of oxygen transport to tissue necessarily involves a great diversity of bodily functions. Furthermore, these tissue functions can be approached from the viewpoint of several disciplines. Even tually, however, all of these approaches must be combined to arrive at a comprehensive picture. This multidisciplinary effort, though imperative, has been implemented slowly because traditional biologi cal science has been largely organ- or discipline oriented. Initia tives to realize an effective international multidisciplinary collab oration have assumed increasing momentum for the past 20 years. These include meetings held in Bad Oeynhausen in 1965 (book in 1968, edited by D. W. Lubbers, U. C. Luft, G. Thews and E. Witzleb), in Nijmegen in 1968 (book in 1969, edited by F. Kreuzer), in Vancouver in 1970 (J. Strauss), and in Dortmund in 1971; this last was in connection with the 25th International Physiological Congress in Munich (book in 1973, edited by M. Kessler, D. F. Bruley, L. C. Clark, Jr. , D. W. Lubbers, I. A. Silver and J. Strauss). This increasing international cooperation called for a more formal organization of these individual initiatives. The credit for taking this decisive step goes to H. I. Bicher and D. F. Bruley from the U. S. A. and D. W. Lubbers and M. Kessler from Germany, who got together in 1972 to plan a large-scale inter national meeting and to organize an international society.

This volume discusses the current state of the nation's blood supply--including studies of blood availability, ways of enhancing blood collection and distribution, frozen red cell technology, logistical concerns in prepositioning frozen blood, extended liquid storage of red cells, and blood substitutes.

This volume contains a collection of essays by selected authors who are active in the field of blood substitutes research or closely allied disciplines. These essays were delivered as lectures by the authors at the second annual "Current Issues in Blood Substitute Research and Development - 1995" course sponsored jointly by the Departments of Medicine and Bioengineer ing, University of California, San Diego, the National Institutes of Health (NHLBI), and the U.S. Army on March 30, 31, and April 1, 1995 in San Diego. This course had three goals: to present fundaniental discussions of scientific issues critical to further development of artificial oxygen carriers, to provide academicians a forum to discuss their current research, and to provide the companies involved in developing products the opportunity to update the audience on their progress. The organization owes much to the solicited comments of the attendees of the 1994 course. We would like especially to thank the U.S. Army, particularly through the efforts of COL John Hess, who provided significant funding to make publication of this volume possible. In addition, a number of the participating companies provided additional financial support to offset the costs of the course. These include Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp., Hemosol, Nippon Oil and Fat, Northfield Laboratories, and Ortho Biotech.

This book contains the selected papers presented at the seventh International Symposium on Blood Substitutes (7th ISBS) held at the International Conference Center of Waseda University in Tokyo on 7-10 September 1997. In keeping with the scientific design of the 7th ISBS Symposium, chapters have been carefully selected and organized to showcase the advancements in recent research. This book includes up-to-date clinical results of leading companies which are manufacturing hemoglobin-based or fluorocarbon-based blood substitutes, and covers issues of hemoglobin toxicity and side effects such as vasoconstriction in more detail using carefully designed in vivo and ex vivo techniques. This book is also a collection of various new types of red cell substitutes such as recombinant Hbs, recombinant albumine-lipidheme complex, modified red blood cells, and perfluorochemicals using material science and molecular engineering.

This definitive volume will provide the reader with up to date information and the most recent science of the fast-evolving area of nanobiotherapeutic-based blood substitutes. Long studied, there are recent updates that make their use in patients more promising, and with one product approved for human use, many more in the pipeline. These include 2nd generations and even third generation ones, the later with enhancement of red blood cell functions. In addition, there are carefully written and referenced updates on the recent history and products in the field, complete with pathophysiologic and pharmacologic studies to validate and verify the efficacy and safety of many of these new products.

While a reliable supply of donated blood is vital in modern medicine, it remains the case that blood transfusion comes with its own problems, such as infectious diseases, immunological adverse reactions, and difficulties with long-term storage and transportation of blood components. With a view to solving these problems, developing a suitable blood substitute has been a major goal for decades. Artificial Oxygen Carrier: Its Front Line is a compilation of reports on the concepts behind artificial oxygen carriers, as well as the new discoveries in the field that were presented during the 13th Keio International Symposium for Life Science and Medicine. This volume describes valuable topics, including artificial red blood cells, modified haemoglobin, perfluorocarbons, and haemoglobin vesicles. It explains cutting-edge developments in artificial oxygen carrier research and will be a valuable resource to all concerned with the field.