Engineering select physical properties of cross-linked red blood cells and a simple a priori estimation of their efficacy as an oxygen delivery vehicle within the context of a hepatic hollow fiber bioreactor.

Bovine red blood cells (bRBCs) can potentially provide a simplistic and economic means of improving oxygenation within hollow fiber (HF) bioreactor cell cultures. Bovine RBCs are also interesting since many of their physical properties can be altered as a result of glutaraldehyde (G) cross-linking. Cross-linking bRBCs produces an oxygen carrier that is expected to be beneficial under specific circumstances (i.