Adding nitric oxide to blood in blood banks may preserve life giving properties
8th October, 2007
Almost immediately after it is donated, human blood begins to lose nitric oxide, a key gas that opens up blood vessels to facilitate the transfer of oxygen from red blood cells to oxygen-starved tissues.
Thus, millions of patients are apparently receiving transfusions with blood that is impaired in its ability to deliver oxygen, according to Duke University Medical Center researchers, who reported the results of their studies in two separate papers carried in the latest issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.