Word: dextran
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...more than three weeks and cannot be given on the battlefield, so doctors use plasma (the blood fluid from which the cells have been removed) for first aid. Plasma will keep for years. As an emergency treatment for shock, doctors use plasma "extenders" such as salt solution, gelatine or Dextran. None of these contains the complex chemicals found in plasma, and none would be used if there were enough plasma to go around...
...Blood plasma, the clear portion of human blood, is better. It contains protein molecules of a definite size and shape that keep it from leaking out of the blood vessels. An emergency plasma substitute needs some harmless substance with the same sort of molecules. Several such substances, including gelatin, Dextran (a complex sugarlike compound) and PVP (polyvinyl pyrrolidone), a synthetic made from acetylene, do the job to some extent, but none is both plentiful and entirely satisfactory. Okra for Shock. One new idea is an extract of the slippery vegetable, okra. Dr. Hiram B. Benjamin of Marquette Medical School, Milwaukee...