Blood is the fluid of life; transporting oxygen from the lungs to body tissue and carbon dioxide from body tissue to the lungs. (Cardiovascular system)
Blood is the fluid of growth; transporting nourishment from digestion and hormones from glands throughout the body. (Digestion and Endocrine system)
Blood is the fluid of health; transporting disease fighting substances to the tissue and waste to the kidneys. (Immune system)
Major components of Blood are
- Plasma (fluid portion of the blood)
- Blood cell; red blood cell and white blood cell (these are produced in Bone marrow)
- Platelets (clotting agent of the blood)
Blood Preservation
The goal of blood preservation is to provide viable and functional blood components for patients requiring blood transfusion. More than 70% of red cells should remain viable in circulation 24 hours after transfusion of stored blood in CPDA-1 for 35 days. The blood is stored at 2-6 °C to maintain the optimal viability, preservation of the blood at this temperature is called cryopreservation/deep freezing.
The loss of red cells viability is correlated with the “lesion of storage” due to various biochemical changes:
- Decrease in pH
- Build up of lactic acid
- Decrease in glucose consumption
- Decrease in ATP level
- Low 2,3-DPG levels
Importance of deep freezing of blood
- Deep freezing is useful to increase viral safety by quarantine and eliminates the growth of microorganisms during storage.
- Deep freezing is very useful in cases of rare blood groups, problems due to multiple antibodies and possibly as in interim and during temporary shortage, especially in cases of civil or military disasters.
- For routine clinical purpose, deep freezing might help to overcome the outdating of autologous blood deposits for elective surgery, which is a problem if only liquid storage is applied.
- Deep freezing of blood also preserves blood for blood transfusion ( blood transfusion is the process of transforming blood from one person to another e.g. a severely injured or one undergoing surgery may need extra blood to replace that which has been lost. If the extra blood is not available the person can go sick and may die.)