Materials Biotechnology and Blood Substitutes

Abstract

Blood is a dispersion of formed elements in an aqueous colloid. The combined mass of the formed elements of blood measure on average 30 ml per kg body weight, or about the same weight as the liver. The colloidal phase of blood contains numerous organic factors that play important primary and supporting roles in homeostasis, including immune surveillance, coagulation, and nutrient transport.Erythrocytes (red blood cells) are the principle formed elements and provide the life-sustaining function, in conjunction with the heart, lungs, blood vessels and kidneys, of transporting and protecting the oxygen-carrying pigment, hemoglobin, to the tissues. The oxygen-binding properties of hemoglobin are sensitive to factors such as the cooperative effects of O2binding, pH and CO2levels, and the presence of other metabolic intermediates such as 2,3-diphosphoglycerate. The synergistic effects of these factors produce a well-known sigmoidal curve plot of the relationship between oxygen affinity and the partial pressure of oxygen (pO2): there is high oxygen affinity in the lung where the pO2is high, and a low oxygen affinity in the tissues, where the pO2is low. Uptake and delivery of oxygen by hemoglobin is associated with considerable spatial rearrangement of the hemoglobin molecule.Blood is a non-Newtonian suspension. Its viscosity is a function of both the vascular diameter and the concentration of erythrocytes. At a normal hematocrit of 40%, the viscosity of blood ranges between 2 and 4 Pa s as measured in tubes ranging 10–1,500 μm diameter. The osmolality of blood serum is 275–295 mOsm/1.