Last Updated on July 20, 2026 by Staff
Blood transfusions save a lot of lives in both veterinary medicine. It is hard to have enough blood. Human blood banks do not have blood because people do not donate enough. Veterinary medicine has a problem because there are not many organized blood bank systems for animals. So dogs that need emergency transfusions have to rely on blood from dogs. It is hard to find dogs with compatible blood.
To fix this problem researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University found a way to make dog red blood cells in the lab using stem cells. They published their findings in Stem Cells Translational Medicine. This is a step towards making blood in the lab that can help both animals and people.
The cells are not ready to be used in transfusions. This research is a good start for making canine blood cells in the lab.
Why Blood Supply Is a Problem
Blood transfusions are necessary during surgeries, bad injuries and diseases that cause a lot of blood loss. Dogs have blood types just like people. If a dog gets blood from a dog with a blood type it can cause serious health problems.
Veterinary clinics do not have big blood banks like hospitals do. Most of the time dogs that need transfusions have to rely on blood from volunteer donor dogs. It is hard to find the blood during emergencies. Scientists have been looking for ways to make blood without relying on donors. One way to do this is by using pluripotent stem cells.
These stem cells are special because they can turn into any type of cell in the body including blood cells. They are made by taking body cells and changing them so they can develop into different types of cells.
Creating Blood Cells
The research team, led by Professor Shingo Hatoya, used dog stem cells that they made with the help of TOKIWA-Bio Inc.
They grew the stem cells into clusters and then gave them the right conditions to turn into blood-forming cells. These cells eventually turned into blood cells that had hemoglobin, which is the protein that carries oxygen in the blood.
This was a success because it showed that the lab-made cells had one of the most important characteristics of real red blood cells.
This is a step towards making artificial blood for animals.
Tracking Cell Growth
To watch the cells grow the researchers used a tool called CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology. They changed the dog stem cells so that when they turned into blood cells they would glow green. This allowed the scientists to see the cells develop in time and measure how well the stem cells were working.
More than 96% of the cells than 96% turned into red blood cells, which showed that the process was working well. The glowing cells will also help scientists study blood cell development in the future.
More Work Ahead
Even though this is a big breakthrough the researchers say that the lab-made cells are not yet fully developed red blood cells. One problem is that the cells do not remove their nucleus, which’s something that real red blood cells do. This is important for making sure the blood cells can move through the body easily.
About 3% of the lab-made cells did this, which means they are not ready to be used in transfusions yet. The team needs to improve the process and figure out why different stem cells work differently.
Future Potential
Even though there is still a lot of work to do, this research is a start. Making red blood cells from dog stem cells could help medicine by reducing the need for donor animals and providing a more reliable blood supply.
This could also help medicine because dogs are similar to people and are often used in research. As scientists get better at using stem cells, lab-made blood products could become safer and widely available for both animals and people.
The goal is to make fully developed red blood cells that can replace donated blood. While we are not there yet this breakthrough is a step towards making artificial blood a reality.