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Revolution: coming soon - universal donated blood

 
Every summer people are asked to donate blood because hospitals are running out of it. Especially rare blood groups are threatened by shortage. Thus, to find blood that can be used versatile from the donator’s or receiver’s blood group is a big challenge for research.

 
The important elements of donated blood are the red blood cells (rbc). They supply the organism with oxygen. Is a receiver getting blood other than the own blood group or blood group 0, antibodies become active and ligate the alien erythrocytes. Life threatening blood clots occur.

 
Sania Mansouri from McGill University developed a coating method, which might be of greatest interest in transfusion medicine. According to the Layer-by-Layer principle (LbL), the negatively charged rbcs are coated. Best results were obtained after the rbcs have been coated with four double-layers of a chitosan-phosphorylchloride solution and alginate solution as well as two double-layers of alginate and PLL-PEG.

 
This way, rbcs are invisible for the receiver’s antibodies, just as if they had blood group 0. After the treatment, they are not only immunogen harmless, but they also keep their functionality. No impact on rapidity of oxygen uptake and its transport were observed.

 
Her revelations mark a significant foundation stone for further research and development in the field of versatile applicable blood donations and prove the importance of chitosan in different fields of application. We are anxious to see the results of this work becoming integrated into daily life of transfusion medicine and how possible shortages can be avoided.

 Sources:

coating, alginate, layer-by-layer, blood

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  • EPNOE - International Polysaccharide Conference, Sundsvall, Sweden, 25. - 28. August 2025
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  • CPHI - Frankfurt, Germany, 28. - 30. October 2025
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