Toward 3D printed microfluidic artificial lungs for veteran rehabilitation

这项技术开发项目的长期目标是改善退伍军人的康复痛苦 从肺部疾病到第一个真正便携的、生物相容的、能够 短期和长期呼吸支持。人工肺目前用于肺病患者的康复; 然而，要完全实现这一目标，还需要在气体交换、生物相容性和便携性方面取得重大进展 他们的潜力微流体人工肺有望通过以下方式实现新型的真正便携式人工肺： 特征尺寸和血液通道设计更接近地模仿在其天然对应物中发现的那些。我们 小型微流体人工肺实现了任何人工肺的最高气体交换效率， 约会通过应用生物相容性表面涂层，其寿命显著提高。 在动物（大鼠）模型中进行了初步体内演示。然而，目前的微加工 这些技术将这些装置中的微流体网络限制为二维，从而严重限制了 潜在的设备拓扑结构，并导致血液分配网络效率低下。此外，目前的建筑 这些技术可能不适合人类应用所需的大面积生产。本研究 将首次利用高分辨率3D聚合物打印技术来创建大面积微流体 肺部具有真正的三维血流网络和拓扑结构。构建3D打印微流体 人工肺将表现出适合于某些人类应用的气体交换，同时使用一小部分人工肺。 血液接触表面积、血液体积和当前市售装置的总体积。目标 因此，SPiRE目前的技术开发提案的主要目的是：1）确定最佳的3D打印 微流体人工肺的参数;以及，2）构建并测试第一个3D打印的微流体人工肺。 肺在实验室使用全动物血液。在这项研究结束时，我们将准备测试我们的3D 在大型动物模型中打印微流体人工肺。因此，所列目标对于促进 这一有前途的技术对退伍军人肺康复的初始急性系统。

The long-term goal of this technology development project is improve the rehabilitation of veterans suffering from lung diseases through the development of the first truly portable, biocompatible, artificial lung capable of short and long term respiratory support. Artificial lungs are currently used to rehabilitate lung disease patients; however, significant advances in gas exchange, biocompatibility, and portability are required to fully realize their potential. Microfluidic artificial lungs promise to enable a new class of truly portable artificial lungs through feature sizes and blood channel designs that more closely mimic those found in their natural counterpart. Our small-scale microfluidic artificial lungs achieved the highest gas exchange efficiency of any artificial lung to date. Their lifetimes were significantly improved through the application of biocompatible surface coatings. Initial in vivo demonstrations were performed in an animal (rat) model. However, current microfabrication techniques limit the microfluidic networks in these devices to two dimensions, thereby severely limiting potential device topologies and resulting in inefficient blood distribution networks. Further, current construction techniques may not be suitable for the large area production required for human applications. In this study, we will for the first time harness high resolution 3D polymer printing technology to create large area microfluidic lungs with truly three dimensional blood flow networks and topologies. Constructed 3D printed microfluidic artificial lungs will exhibit gas exchange suitable for some human applications, while using a fraction of the blood contacting surface area, blood volume, and total volume of current commercial devices. The objectives of the current technology-development SPiRE proposal are thus to: 1) Determine optimal 3D printing parameters for microfluidic artificial lungs; and, 2) Construct and test the first 3D printed microfluidic artificial lung in the laboratory using whole animal blood. At the conclusion of this study, we will be ready to test our 3D printed microfluidic artificial lungs in a large animal model. The listed objectives are thus critical to advancing this promising technology towards initial acute systems for veteran pulmonary rehabilitation.