Artificial Blood: Progress and Challenges The Quest

By : Edha Talwar

Artificial blood is an old and very ambitious project in medicine; there is a vital necessity to find a solution to blood shortages, patient safety, and the overall outcomes of emergency cases. Approximately millions of individuals are in need of blood transfusions annually as a result of surgery, trauma, anemia or chronic conditions in the world. Availability of the donated blood is however limited, unevenly distributed and limited by using expiry dates. Blood, unlike most other pharmaceuticals, is not readily manufactured, and follows complex storage requirements. The necessity of timely care caused by medical crises, natural disasters, and military actions contributes further to the necessity to identify a stable and scalable alternative. Blood is an extraordinarily complex tissue: it transports oxygen to keep life alive, carries out immune system functions that protect against infectious agents, and is actively involved in clotting to help stem excessive bleeding. All these functions have been very difficult to replicate in a lab grown or synthetic product. Nevertheless, scientists all over the world still strive to achieve new breakthroughs, as there is an opportunity to develop universal life-saving products which may revolutionize modern health care. 

The best examined potential solutions entail hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers (HBOCs). Hemoglobin is the red blood cell protein that carries oxygen in the lungs to the tissues and organs. HBOCs must isolate and clean hemoglobin, alter it in some fashion so that it operates out of red blood cells, and finally package the hemoglobin to enable it to circulate as a replacement to donated blood. HBOCs have withstood intense preclinical and clinical testing in the last three decades. In vivo, they have been shown to increase oxygen availability to tissues and lower mortality in the events of emergency blood loss. Clinical trials in humans have had mixed results with some HBOCs temporarily stabilizing patients in critical care but also due to side effects, namely raised blood pressure, oxidation stress and organ toxicity, HBOCs have not received approval into general clinical practice in the United States. In spite of these misfortunes, HBOCs are still an object of research, and scientists are trying to focus on new chemical modifications, encapsulation into nanoparticles, among other methods to reduce adverse effects preserving the oxygen-carrying capacity.

The other potential area is the growth of stem cell-based red blood cells in the laboratory. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and blood stem cells can be manipulated in the laboratory to become functional red cell-carrying oxygen. The safety of attempting to transfuse such lab-grown cells into people is under study, notably with the RESTORE trial. This strategy has several significant advantages: theoretically unrestricted production, the possibility of the production of blood that finds universal compatibility with the blood group of every blood type, as well as the exclusion of a number of risks involved in donor blood, such as infection risks and immunological complications. There are practical challenges that are considerable however. Expanding red blood cells in scale is time consuming and expensive to achieve, and depends on the fine tuning of growth conditions, specialized bioreactors, and large amounts of culture media. Along with that, the normal functioning of the lab grown cells after transfusion is also a complicated process that researchers are yet to perfect. 

A third strategy resembles that of perfluorocarbon-based oxygen carriers. Synthetic molecules known as perfluorocarbons can hold a lot of oxygen and allow them to carry oxygen in the blood even when devoid of hemoglobin. Initial investigations indicate that these compounds will provide successful tissue oxygenation and enhanced survival in the scenario of hemorrhagic shock and decrease the need of the donor blood. The perfluorocarbon emulsions are chemically stable, long shelf life, and do not necessitate blood typing, which makes them favorable to other types of use where the operations happen in a remote location or an emergency case. However, several issues hamper clinical application: Perfluorocarbons tend to have short circulation times, can cause immune reactions in some patients, and need oxygen breathing interventions in order to work best. Scientists keep developing their chemical formula and application technique to solve these limitations and make them more effective and safe to work with clinically. 

Although these are notable strategies towards artificial blood, there are still major challenges that have to be faced before it can become mainstream. It must be safe: any lab-grown or synthetic product should be compatible with the human immune system, be toxic-free, and repeatedly fit to transport oxygen even when physiological conditions vary. Stability and storage also play an important role; an adequate artificial blood product needs

to be resistant to variable temperatures, as well as preserve its functionality in the long term, unlike the donor blood, which has a relatively short shelf life (approximately 42 days kept in refrigeration). Also, it is a complicated and time-consuming process, necessitating the extensive clinical trials to prove safety, efficacy, and reproducibility and is therefore subject to regulatory approval. These dilemmas point out the fact that researchers have to balance between innovation and patient safety. 

The possible human benefits associated with artificial blood, however, are enormous. Such a product would be applied on the spot after an accident and save the lives of the people in need even before the application of traditional transfusions. It would allow surgery to be less dependent on blood banks and could compensate for problems related to accepted and incompatible donations or contaminated blood. A universally compatible, stable blood substitute would be a valuable asset in military applications, response to disasters and areas that lack adequate medical facilities. In addition, man-made blood would help offload blood banks, thereby freeing them of shortage during the times when blood is in high demand and would lead to a better controlled volume of supply. To a large extent, transfusion-transmitted infections that are still a concern despite donor screening, could be reduced significantly as well. The benefits explain why the quest to develop artificial blood has been prioritized in the research of medical researchers world-over. 

To sum up, the process of creating artificial blood is difficult, interdisciplinary and gaining momentum. The biology and technology of red blood cell production present formidable obstacles, but work is underway to surmount them, including through hemoglobin-based carriers, production of red cells in vitro and perfluorocarbon alternatives. No other product has yet gained a commonplace clinical use though research and clinical trials are under way. As every step of improvement is made, be it safety, production or shelf life, we inch closer to the day where blood, artificial blood, can become a common, life-saving device, used in emergency care, surgery and patient treatment all over the world. The dream of a universal blood substitute is one of the most thrilling prospects in contemporary medical research that promises to raise hopes of many millions of patients and healthcare workers.

Citations 

Hemoglobin-Based Oxygen Carriers: Where Are We Now in 2023?, 17 February 2023, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9962799/. Accessed 21 August 2025. Hemoglobin-Based Oxygen Carriers: Where Are We Now in 2023?, 17 February 2023, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9962799/. Accessed 21 August 2025. Kode, Rohith. Breakthrough in the scientific world: Lab-grown red blood cells used in transfusions, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10180808/. Accessed 21 August 2025.