ABO Blood Typing System
The ABO blood typing system is considered to be the core of the entire medical practice, primarily because the blood stream denotes the very essence of life while mixing them up could have very fatal outcomes. The first signs of the system were discovered as far back as the early 1900’s at the University of Vienna by Karl Landsteiner while he was in the process of studying the reason that blood transfusions could end up either saving a life or causing death. The entire system rests on the now substantiated theory that all humans and other primates can be classified into the ABO blood grouping system. The system incorporates 4 distinct types of blood – namely A, B, AB and O. The specific combination of the two antigens and the two antibodies that are responsible for the ABO types will determine every individual’s blood type.
To further elaborate, people that have the type A blood will have the A antigen on the upper most surface of their red blood cells. As a result, their bodies will not anti A antibodies as this will lead to the destruction of their own blood cells. However, when an amount of B type blood is injected into their bodies, the anti – B antibodies that is present in their blood will identify the new blood as alien and destroy the introduced blood cells in order to cleanse the bloodstream of the foreign protein. The individuals that have O blood do not produce any antigens, thereby allowing these individuals to provide blood transfusions to patients of any other blood types – prompting its name as the universal donor. At the other end of this spectrum, individuals that have the AB blood type do not produce any antibodies, allowing them to receive blood transfusions from any of the other blood groups without complications – leading to it being known as the universal recipient.
Genetic researchers and scientists are currently attempting to come up with an inexpensive and efficient way of converting the blood types A, B and AB into O in order to save the millions of lives that are lost every year simply because the kind of blood they required was not available at the time. The core of this research lies in the usage of glycosidase enzymes from specific types of bacteria in order to strip the blood group antigens from the red blood cells. Other simultaneous research is also attempting to recreate artificial blood that will also help in stop gap measures.