Setbacks in blood substitutes research and development: a biochemical perspective

Abstract

Recent setbacks in using Hb-based technology to develop oxygen carriers or blood substitutes may spur new and fundamentally different approaches for the development of a new generation of hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers (HBOCs). This article briefly details some underlying mechanisms that may have been responsible for the adverse-event profile associated with HBOCs, with a focus on the contribution of the author's laboratory toward identifying some of these biochemical pathways and some ways and means to control them. It is hoped that this will aid in the development of a safe and effective second generation of HBOCs.