IMPROVED OXYGENATION OF SYNTHETIC BIO-LIVER DEVICES

描述(逐字摘自申请人摘要)：生物人工肝 已被提议在肝功能衰竭期间执行肝功能 天然肝脏已经再生，或者直到移植成为可能。理想 生物人工肝将模拟正常的肝功能。一种生物人工肝 也可用于定期为慢性肝病患者解毒。 疾病。在这种混合肝脏系统中，患者的血液通过一个 可更换的药盒与可持续循环的活体肝脏对接 细胞，清除血液中的毒素。这项提案将侧重于满足 肝细胞在循环系统中的需氧量。我们建议 开发一种全氟化膜，它将提供无气泡的氧气， 具有维持肝细胞活力所需的运输特性。 此外，这种膜还可以增强对“湿出”的抵抗力，以及 与常规疏水膜有关的其他污染现象，以及 从而延长肝细胞的寿命，并降低发生 将病原生物体引入介质。圆满完成 建议的研发工作将产生和增强系统，以提供 更长期的肝脏支持。 建议的商业应用： 提供长期肝细胞功能的生物人工肝有望提供支持 为慢性肝病患者提供护理和移植的桥梁，并改善 急性肝功能衰竭患者的预后，完全避免了移植的需要。 一种循环接口装置可能被用来测试新药的安全性。 我们的膜技术将极大地改善生物人工体内的氧气转移 肝脏，并显著提高其性能。

DESCRIPTION (Verbatim from the Applicant's Abstract): The bioartificial liver has been proposed to perform liver function during hepatic failure unit the native liver has regenerated, or until transplantation is possible. The ideal bioartificial liver would mimic normal liver function. A bioartificial liver could also be used to periodically detoxify those patients with chronic liver diseases. In this hybrid liver system, patients' blood is circulated through a replaceable cartridge interfaced with constantly recirculating viable liver cells, removing toxins from the blood. This proposal will focus on meeting the oxygen demands of the hepatocyte in the recirculating loop. We propose to develop a perfluorinated membrane that will provide bubble less oxygenation, with the required transport characteristics to maintain hepatocyte viability. Additionally, the membrane would offer enhanced resistance to "wet out," and other fouling phenomena associated with conventional hydrophobic membranes, and thus extend the lifetime of liver cells, and reduce the likelihood of introducing pathogenic organisms into the media. Successful completion of the proposed R&D effort will produce and enhanced system that can provide longer-term liver support. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: Bioartificial livers that provide long term hepatocyte function are expected to provide supportive care and a bridge to transplantation for patients with chronic liver diseases, and improve the prognosis of patients with acute liver failure, avoiding altogether the need for transplantation. A recirculating interfacing device could potentially be used to test the safety of new drugs. Our membrane technology will substantially improve oxygen transfer within the bioartificial liver, and significantly improve its performance.