PARIS - French researchers said Friday they have successfully injected red blood cells produced from stem cells into a patient.
It's the first time this has happened.
The breakthrough paves the way for the industrialized production of blood.
The researchers began work on stem cells 10 years ago by taking adult bone marrow stem cells and cultivating them in Petri dishes.
The stem cells turned into billions of red blood cells and the patient was injected with the blood cells.
This research comes at a time when the number of blood donors is decreasing and the need for blood is increasing.
The results of the study by Professor Luc Douay were published in the Journal of the American Society of Hematology Thursday.
(Copyright © 2011 NBC Universal, All Rights Reserved)