This week's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports that two separate studies have shown that stored blood may lack a vital component that is vital in the delivery of oxygen to tissues. Nitric oxide, which is critical in keeping blood vessels open, appears to begin breaking down as soon as blood goes into storage. Doctors have become increasingly worried about the number of heart attack and stroke patients that have received blood transfusions.
"It doesn't matter how much oxygen is being carried by red blood cells, it cannot get to the tissues that need it without nitric oxide. If the blood vessels cannot open, the red blood cells back up in the vessel and tissues go without oxygen. The result can be a heart attack or even death," said Dr. Jonathan Stamler of Duke University, leader of one of the research groups.
Researchers found that if the nitric oxide levels were restore, at any point in the 42 days that blood banks keep donations, the red blood cells were gain able to open blood vessels and deliver oxygen to tissues.
The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health, Duke Anesthesiology Fund, the American Heart Association and N30 Pharma, which has a license agreement with Duke to develop nitric oxide-based therapies.
[Source: Yahoo News]
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