New artificial red blood cells can be freeze-dried and reconstituted with water, it has been announced.
The development of the cells was revealed at the annual conference of the American Society of Hematology over the weekend.
The cells have been developed using nanotechnology and are design to "emulate vital functions of natural blood cells," the conference was told.
So far the cells have been tested in laboratory mice at Toronto University, Canada.
These tests showed they can capture oxygen in the lungs and release it to tissues. The tests showed that artificial blood could be used to resuscitate animals in shock following the loss of 40% of their blood.
The artificial cells are about 20% of the size of human red blood cells and are doughnut <!donut> shaped.
The developers at Washington University, St Louis, Missouri, USA, say their ability to capture oxygen in the lungs matches the binding ability of human red cells within 10% and that this should be "sufficient" to stabilise a patient until a blood transfusion can be obtained.
Researcher Dr Allan Doctor said: "One key goal is to advance field resuscitation of civilian trauma victims in remote settings and soldiers who are wounded in austere environments without access to timely evacuation.
“ErythroMer would be a blood substitute that a medic can carry in his or her pack and literally take it out, add water, and inject it."
Conference spokesman Professor Armand Keating said the development was among several bio-engineering successes to be revealed at the conference.
He said: “All of these studies represent substantial advances resulting from biomedical engineering.
"They build upon established science with bioengineering strategies that could make therapies significantly more effective if they are pursued and refined."
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