[The creation of artificial blood and the lessons of physiology for practical medicine].

Nowadays the attempts to create the oxygen carrying blood substitutes ("artificial blood") based on the hemoglobin solution, have not met with success. This is accounted for by the fact that human blood hemoglobin efficiently fulfill the function of the gas transport in an organism only if it is included into an erythrocyte. The role of erythrocytes in the respiratory function of the blood is considered in this review. The newest methods are given of creating the "artificial blood" with the help of recombinant hemoglobin, the artificial erythrocytes and of obtaining the normal erythrocytes beyond an organism.