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Phys.org reports on researchers creating synthetic Rebuilt Red Blood Cells (RRBCs) that not only match the normal characteristics of natural RBCs, but add new capabilities as well.
most artificial red blood cells have had one or a few, but not all, key features of the natural versions. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Nano have made synthetic red blood cells that have all of the cells' natural abilities, plus a few new ones.
The newly created RRBCs have the usual characteristics of RBCs and
take up oxygen from the lungs and deliver it to the body's tissues. These disk-shaped cells contain millions of molecules of hemoglobin—an iron-containing protein that binds oxygen. RBCs are highly flexible, which allows them to squeeze through tiny capillaries and then bounce back to their former shape. The cells also contain proteins on their surface that allow them to circulate through blood vessels for a long time without being gobbled up by immune cells.
But they also have some new tricks natural cells do not, the researchers
developed modular procedures with which to load functional cargos such as hemoglobin, drugs, magnetic nanoparticles, and ATP biosensors within the RRBC interior to enable various functions, including oxygen delivery, therapeutic drug delivery, magnetic manipulation, and toxin biosensing and detection.
The RRBCs were created by
first coating donated human RBCs with a thin layer of silica. They layered positively and negatively charged polymers over the silica-RBCs, and then etched away the silica, producing flexible replicas. Finally, the team coated the surface of the replicas with natural RBC membranes.
Future studies are already planned.
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Journal Reference:
Biomimetic Rebuilding of Multifunctional Red Blood Cells: Modular Design Using Functional Components, ACS Nano (DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.9b08714)
(Score: 2) by aiwarrior on Thursday June 04 2020, @07:57AM (5 children)
Being 30 will I ever benefit from this sci fi tech? I know medicine evolved brutally specially in cancer and trauma recovery, but this seems in another league. I can understand better imaging tech leading to better decisions on some trauma. I can understand the re-programming with some funny protein or molecule of our immune system. What i find hard to grasp is using completely synthetic cells and how we have the tech to mass produce them. I really hope this is viable.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday June 04 2020, @01:21PM (4 children)
Nice rule of thumb is 15 years for any medical advance to go from the lab to benefiting you... unless it's something like a COVID vaccine, which will be fast tracked.
Does this create an unlimited number of synthetic cells from a small amount of donor blood? Because if not, there doesn't seem to be a clear benefit until the add-ons are included.
I remember some hype about a synthetic blood substitute with superior properties to normal blood, presumably increasing athletic and even mental capabilities. But it probably died on the vine like so many attempts.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 04 2020, @04:37PM (1 child)
Or teeth regrowth tech. That's been in the lab how many decades?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 05 2020, @07:53AM
Do you have any idea how much the dental industry is worth?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by grumpcuss on Thursday June 04 2020, @10:36PM
They need to work on developing an add-on that will clean plaque out of arteries. Imagine the benefits. Reduced heart disease, reduced dementia, etc. But the statin makers would never allow it to become available. Too many billions of dollars to be lost.
(Score: 2) by Username on Thursday June 04 2020, @11:46PM
I didn't RTFA, but it would be awesome if it came from animals. Like pigs blood ran through some machinery and turned into human usable blood. Seems doubtful though, I think this is just someone taking of parts of human cells and inserting it into other human cells.