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This
may seem like something out of a science fiction movie: researchers have
designed micro particles that can be injected directly into the bloodstream to
quickly oxygenate your body, even if you can't breathe anymore. It's one of the
best medical breakthroughs in recent years, and one that could save millions of
lives every year.
The
invention, developed by a team at Boston Children's Hospital, will allow
medical teams to keep patients alive and well for 15 to 30 minutes despite
major respiratory failure. This is enough time for doctors and emergency
personnel to act without risking a heart attack or permanent brain injuries in
the patient.
The
solution has already been successfully tested on animals under critical lung
failure. When the doctors injected this liquid into the patient's veins, it
restored oxygen in their blood to near-normal levels, granting them those
precious additional minutes of life.
Particles
of fat and oxygen
The
particles are composed of oxygen gas pocketed in a layer of lipids, a natural
molecule that usually stores energy or serves as a component to cell membranes.
Lipids can be waxes, some vitamins, monoglycerides, diglycerides,
triglycerides, phospholipids, or—as in this case—fats.
These
fatty oxygen particles are about two to four micrometers in size. They are
suspended in a liquid solution that can be easily carried and used by
paramedics, emergency crews and intensive care personnel. This seemingly magic
elixir carries "three to four times the oxygen content of our own red
blood cells."
Similar
solutions have failed in the past because they caused gas embolism, rather than
oxygenating the cells. According to John Kheir, MD at the Department of
Cardiology at Boston Children's Hospital, they solved the problem by using
deformable particles, rather than bubbles:
We
have engineered around this problem by packaging the gas into small, deformable
particles. They dramatically increase the surface area for gas exchange and are
able to squeeze through capillaries where free gas would get stuck.
Kheir
had the idea of an injected oxygen solution started after he had to treat a
little girl in 2006. Because of a lung hemorrhage caused by pneumonia, the girl
sustained severe brain injuries which, ultimately, lead to her death before the
medical team could place her in a heart-lung machine.
Soon
after, Kheir assembled a team of chemical engineers, particle scientists, and
medical doctors to work on this idea, which had promising results from the very
beginning:
Some
of the most convincing experiments were the early ones. We drew each other's
blood, mixed it in a test tube with the microparticles, and watched blue blood
turn immediately red, right before our eyes.
It
sounds like magic, but it was just the start of what, after years of
investigation, became this real life-giving liquid in a bottle.
This
is what the future is about. And it's a beautiful one indeed, one that is
arriving earlier than we ever could have expected. I wonder if this would find
its way to other uses. I can see it as an emergency injection in a spaceship,
for example. But what about getting a shot for diving?
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