CELLMEMBRANE: Development of delignified nanocellulose based gas transfer scaffold membrane for artificial lung applications

肺病是全球第三大死亡原因。对于不可逆转的晚期肺部疾病患者，肺移植是唯一的长期治疗方法。由于无法找到合适的捐赠者，器官捐赠不仅需要至少18个月的等待。由于器官功能不佳，最终获得肺移植的患者康复的机会不到20%。因此，人工肺不仅非常需要作为永久替代器官，而且还作为移植的桥梁。现有的人工肺装置无法模拟人类肺的流动和气体交换特性，生物相容性低，导致不希望看到的血液凝固和溶血，这将其适用性限制在30天内。与当前人工肺技术相关的复杂性和风险意味着，它们不能作为长期肺替代或移植的合适桥梁提供。通过这项为期36个月的EIC探路者项目，由爱尔兰智能反应堆牵头的财团旨在开发世界上第一种基于生物的纳米材料“纳米纤维素”，以制造一种用作肺移植桥梁的人工肺装置。该联盟将开发一种初步的概念验证纳米纤维素设备，以证明气体转移和血液中的初始血液相容性。提出的方法预计有两个好处，第一是血液流动可以在层流条件下发生，减少溶血和对血液的损害。其次，纳米纤维素具有内皮化的潜力，这将允许长期的气体交换，而不需要全身抗凝剂。

Lung disease is the third biggest cause of deaths globally. For the irreversible and terminal lung disease patients, lung transplantation is the only long-term therapy. Due to the unavailability the suitable donors, there is not only a minimum of 18 months of wait on the organ donation. Patients who eventually secure a lung transplant have lessthan 20% chance of recovery due to ‘poor organ function’. Therefore, there is not only a great need for an artificial lung as a permanent replacement organ but also as a bridge to transplantation. Existing artificial lung devices fail to mimic the flow gas exchange properties of a human lung and suffer from low biocompatibility, leading to undesired blood coagulation and hemolysis which limits their applicability to up to 30 days. The complexity and risk associated with current artificial lung technologies mean that they are not offered aslong-term lung replacements or as a suitable bridge to transplantation. Through this 36 months EIC pathfinder project, the consortium led by Smart Reactors Ireland, aims to develop the world’s first biobased nanomaterial ‘nanocellulose’ to manufacture an artificial lung device used as a bridge to lung transplantation. The consortium will develop an initial proof of concept nanocellulose device to demonstrate gas transfer and initial hemocompatibility in blood. The proposed approach is expected to have two benefits, the first is that blood flow can occur in laminar flow conditions reducing haemolysis and damage to the blood. Secondly, nanocellulose, has the potential to be endothelialized which would allow for long term gas exchange without the need for systemic anticoagulants.