A NEW BLOOD SUBSTITUTE DEVELOPED IN THE USSR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700080397-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 9, 2011
• Sequence Number: 397
• Publication Date: September 26, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700080397-2
oi III F I f 0wf f-
ION
--SECIJFzFi~`-3.3Ti~fH'd&trrEi+"
C':.NTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
DATE OF
I N CfIOM ATInM
HOW
PUBLISHED Mntbly er'.odic.l
WHERE
PUBLISHED M.oacox
DATE
PUBLISHED d'. 1951
.LANGUAGE Bueeian
07 TwO n, sane. vlvlu T.: YS., I........, u,J.acn00,cvn
U.S. A. Inshcs.. IT. ?..,..1....... .....
I.TUE .. ITt caT.els T. 0. u00vT .T u U?UT-111. 1U.M I.
SOURCE Naukt. i Zhisn'. No 6, 1951, pp 3436.
DATE DIST. , uep 1952
NO. OF PA.ES 4
SUPPLEMEI TO
REPORT MO.
'LEI therapeutically effective e.ethod of blood transfusion has been widely
applied in Soviet medical practice. Several institutes, by reds of 53404
traaaitusio 7 sts?Sions~eamd tbonnaoaa of a ecinl surgeries throughout the whole
country are preparing and conserving blood to'transfuse it into wounded and
sick patients. STt the pubEic health system of our country, .there is a special,
blood) service, wifh a.any thousands of physicians serving it, as well as an
army of donors who give their blood for this purpose. ?gore than 25O,QG~i3 txa~-
fuaioao per year are being serried out in the Soviet Union, which is many tiaea
mare than in any other counbry*.in the vorld.
3ioarever, the use of donors' blood presents a series of substnntiel draw-
backs. The doeo_rs' blood is expansive and cos,iaratively unstable, and its trans-
portatton to distant places 'involves considerable difficulty. But the most lia-
portent difficulty is the existence of four different groupings of human blood.
?ren fusion to a patient of blood of a different type may cause complication.
Beaides, it. is very difficult, and sometimes oven iaposaible, to determine a
wuaded an's blood grouping under battle conditions.
Therefore, the idea of devising a substitute for human blood arose long'
ago. For many years, however, all attempts of that scrt proved to be unsucceep-
fu1. Various saline solutions, devised by the scientists, could not be sub-
stituted far'blood. We know that blood is more than a liquid containing a cer-
tain quantity of salts. It feeds the tissues of the body and must, therefore,
contain such nutritious substances as sugar and proteins. But the principal
shortcoming of all projected substitutes in E rope and the US was the fact that
they did not stimulate the formation of the patient's oqu blood, whereas in
'many cages, the possibility of forcing the sick organism to generate blood cor-
puscles would have ensured his recovery.
CLASSIFICATION FOR L USE 0M
R
NBRII DISTRIBUTION
_
F,91
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700080397-2
STAT
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700080397-2
Then. in 191:2, 11, G. Balen'kiy. Doctor of Biology and h ofeaaor M-he l Mos-
cow Tnftitute of ChemieaiTechnology imenl D. I. Mendeleyev, began his.resee-ech to
develop a blood substitute. Shortly before that time, the scientist and his
colleugnee had been engaged in the pursuit of a purely practical problem: they
had been seeking a means of increasing the quantity of blood obtained during
the slaughter of cattle. Once, 24 hours before the slaughter, they pumped o',tt
about half of the total. blood from h ccv. On slaughtering the cow, they found
that the Zo-rigina 7 quantity of this cow's blood had been entirely r~pleniched.
Belen'ldy +r1a deeply interested in the process of vapid restoration of such
large quantities of blood by animals. Evidently, be nor. d, there occur in
the bodies of experimental animals which had lost much blood some substances
which stimulate the functions of blood-forming organs. These substances --
the aaientict named them hemoactins, i.e., activators (intensifiers) of blood
formation -- must he secreted by oreaaa of nnlrnatn that I - been r- L*_lly de-
prived of their blood. Would the hcacactins taken from one organism increace
the activity of blood-forming ors ns in another? The answer could be found
only by experiment.
An aide brought some rabbits into the laboratory; free these, part of the
blood had been previously removed. Some of the ranoits were injected with a
small quantity of hemoactivated cow's,blood, or, more. precisely, they received
its liquid portion --blood serum. Other animals received no injections. Re-
sulte cc--firmed tb:_ ecientist'3 ennunption. The enin^.ls that had hose ulven
':cc ::C un r::torcd their o.lgiavi yutntity of blood twice an quickly as.those
that had not been submitted to that procedure. Every time these tests have been
repeated, they have invariably given the same results: the serum increased the
activity of blood-forming organs and considerably improved the state of the
animal's health.
Professor Belen'kiy made his discovery during 1943. Thousende of wounded
soldiers needed blood trans22uhionno The blood was conveyed to the fighting front
from the distant rear, transported by !.pecial cars and airplanes. But the
donors' blood merely replaced the blood lost by the sick and wounded men, with-
out stimulating the blood-generating processes in their bodiex. Meanwhile, mony
of these men were suffering precisely from the sluggish activity of their blood-
forming organs.
Belen'kiy had a miraculous remedy in his hands. A fee grams of hit serum
increased the blood-forming activity of rabbits and dogs. How good it would~ -
be to utilize this remedy to aid men.' However, animal blood cannot be trans-
fused into man; as a rule, it produces a devastating action in his organism.
Why is human blood incompatible with animal blood?
It had long ago been established that plasma, which composes the principal
mass of blood, is different for each kind of animal. These differences are even
observed among representatives of the rase species. The plasma of one animal
becomes poisonous when injected in a certain quantity into another animal. But
this is only one reason against the use of animal blood for transfusions. The
other reason is the fact that when blood of differeet, groups is mixed,the blood
corpuscles agglutinate, precipitate, and being no longer able to serve the or-
ganim do.not supply the tissues vita oxygen. Now can one eliminate the results
of plasma heterogeneity when injecting animal blood into man? The scientist was
deeply concerned with this qucstion. Be was firmly convinced of the possibility
of discovering a miraculous substance that would substitute for human blood one
at the~same time would serve as an intensifier of the blood-forming process.
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700080397-2
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700080397-2
The Soviet scientists faced an extremely difficult praolen: it ..as neces-
sary to .raat the serum in such a way that, while being removed of all properties
dangerous to man, it should not at the same time be deprived of its capacity of
increasing blood-forming activity in a patient's body. All this demanded a great
deal of effort, energy, tad devotion. Only after innumerable tests did the in-
defati6a;'-le receurcher and?hie assistants finally achieve the desired result.
The day some when a routine control teat with doge aha ed that no harmful
consequences were: observed on the animals after injection of especially prepared
cov'a serum. Further numerous control Yeats confirmed the feat that the ob-
tained aerum was harmless to any kind of cnircal. !k wr, it tea seceonary to toot
ito action on man. Eclen'kiy decided to conuvct this test or himself. In the
p,eceace of bin colleagues, he injected intravenously 1u10 cubic centimeters of
the prepared serum into himself. The acne quantity of raw con's blood injected
into a ern voutu have inevitably killed him. The new preparation produced no
ha3,e$ul effect on the scientist
To pout this discovery Fully into the htnd3 of Soviet medical men, it was
necessary first to determine the curative properties which the serum would de-
monstrate when administered to a patient. Professor D. A. Arapov, chief of the
Surgical Clinic of the Institute imeni Sklifosovskiy, took on himself the task
of carrying out this serious test. His tests were no less daring than those
conducted by the discoverer himself. Aranov had gained full corcf`ldcnce in this
_nrenrration and toencfu. ct it to can of u1dcly v _r- inn b
? lcal In
caves of necessity, the serum van transfused in huge quantities -- up to 3 or
even 4 liters at once.
The most beneficial action of the serum van demonstrated in cases of
burns. Once, an electrician was brought to the clinic; almost half his skin
surface had been horned. The physicians were seriously concerned about this
patient's life. First of all, it was necessary to combat shock, as well as to
alleviate the thickening of blood which always takes place after a burn. For-
merly, a saline solution, or the so-called physiological solution, was usually
applied in such cases. But this solution does not contain any protein, which
to so necessary for an organism struggling for his life. Belen'kiy's serum
contains protein, however, and Professor Arapov, therefore, courageously
applied it. the patient received 4 liters of the new preparation. The state
of shock ended and the blood was restored to its normal thickness. It was
then possible to begin treatment. After the first flaps of skin had been
transplanted to the burnt surface , the patient received another injection of
Belen'kiy's preparation. The flans began to heal and to be assimilated quickly.
In 3 months the patient left the clinic an absolutely healthy man.
A great number of such masterly and daring trials with the serum have been
conducted by Professor Arapov and his colleagues. In addition to being in-
vestigated'at the Institue imeni Sklifosovskiy, this species nonspecific serum
been tested in the Central Traumatological and Orthopedic Institute, at the
Fospital Imeni S. P. Botkin, and in many other medical institutions of Lenin-
gred,Bryanak, and Minsk. More than 10,000 transfusions of the animal serum
have been administered by doctors to patients suffering from various disturbances.
The ability of the serum to raise blood pressure in the vessels and to Increase
the activity of blood?.'or ng organs na.-te it an indispen.3able therapeutic agent
at the bedside of every voended man in need of blood. Belen'kiy's preparation
quickly healed such a serious illness of children as dyspepsia. Also. to men
who could not take any food because of esophagus affection, it completely re-
placed a protein diet for the duration of a few weeks. In short, the species
nonspecific serum discovered by Beleu'kiy proved to be a perfect substitute
for the liquid part of the blood, a medical preparation for which the surgeons
of all countries in the world have been waiting. Cheap, and at the same time
possessing extremely valuable qualities, this preparation is now receiving
ever-g wing application In the therapeutic practice of our medical institu-
tions. It is a remedy destined for mass use.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700080397-2
STAT
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700080397-2
The discovery of species nouayecific sorim is a remarkable victory of Soviet
bio1o y, h ch fo1i we the yath ceiv d by I. V. Michurin ano I. P. Pavlov. For
thediscgvzy abd c1inical toots of this Pe-, the ac4
t3
en
at-innovators cave
bee1% humored ttlth a @ta11n I*Eizo.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14: CIA-RDP80-00809AO00700080397-2