A buffered body fluid expander solution, in which the buffer is a physiologically acceptable buffer that is not an inorganic phosphate buffer, comprises calcium ions and magnesium ions at a concentration ratio of 5:1 to 1:1. The solutions are useful for the manufacture of medicaments and blood volume expanders, for treating hypovolemia or for treating the loss of extracellular and interstitial fluid in subjects suffering with burns, for treating respiratory and/or metabolic acidosis in a subject, for perfusion of the abdominal cavity during peritoneal dialysis of a subject with acute renal failure or an acute toxicity condition, for preventing and/or ameliorating reperfusion injury, and for delivering a therapeutic, test and/or synergistic agent to a subject, including a biological agent, such as at least one stem cell, peptide or genomic derived protein.
