THE PRESERVATION OF LIVING RED BLOOD CELLS IN VITRO

Abstract

In order to determine the availability for functional uses of red cells kept in vitro by our methods, transfusion experiments have been carried out with rabbits by which a large part of their blood was replaced with kept rabbit cells suspended in Locke's solution. It has been found that erythrocytes preserved in mixtures of blood, sodium citrate, saccharose, and water for 14 days, and used to replace normal blood, will remain in circulation and function so well that the animal shows no disturbance, and the blood count, hemoglobin, and percentage of reticulated red cells remain unvaried. Cells kept for longer periods, though intact and apparently unchanged when transfused, soon leave the circulation. Animals in which this disappearance of cells is taking place on a large scale, remain healthy save for the progressing anemia. The experiments prove that, in the exsanguinated rabbit at least, transfusions of cells kept for a long time in vitro may be used to replace the blood lost, and that when the cells have been kept too long but are still intact they are disposed of without harm. The indications are that kept human cells could be profitably employed in the same way.