Soluble functional polymers for human haemoglobin modification for blood substitution

Abstract

Aqueous solutions of certain polymers have been used as plasma expanders for a long time. However, these polymer solutions are only capable of correcting the volume of circulation in vivo and in particular they cannot replace the oxygen‐carrying function of blood. This property can be conferred to these polymer solutions by linking human haemoglobin, the natural oxygen carrier, to the polymers in such a way that the oxygen‐binding properties of the free protein are similar to those of blood. Such results can be achieved by designing and preparing special polyanionic derivatives of dextran and polyoxyethylene and linking them to free human haemoglobin under its deoxy form or its oxy form. The resulting covalent conjugates exhibit general properties quite fitted to a use in blood substitution.