3D Printed Microfluidic Artificial Lung for Veteran Rehabilitation

这一技术开发项目的长期目标是改善退伍军人痛苦的康复 从肺部疾病发展到第一个真正便携的、生物相容的、能够 短期和长期的呼吸支持。目前的人工肺最近已被用于肺的修复。 疾病患者；然而，需要在气体交换、生物兼容性和便携性方面取得重大进展 充分发挥他们的潜力。微流控人工肺有望使一种真正便携的人工肺成为可能 通过特征尺寸和血液通道设计，接近于在其自然环境中发现的肺 对应者。然而，目前的微制造技术将这些器件中的微流控网络限制为 二维，从而严重限制潜在的设备拓扑并导致低效血液 分销网络。此外，目前的施工技术可能不适合大面积 人类应用所需的生产。在这项研究中，我们将首次利用高分辨率3D 聚合物打印技术创造具有真正三维血流的大面积微流控肺 网络和拓扑。构建的3D打印微流控人工肺将表现出合适的气体交换 对于某些人体应用，虽然使用血液接触表面积的一小部分，但血液体积和 当前商用设备的总容量。当前技术开发的目标-功绩 因此，建议：1)优化微流控树脂[分辨率、渗透性、毒性和血液相容性] 人工肺；2)构建成人规模的3D打印微流控肺并进行体外验证；3)急性和 成人急性白血病的慢性活体试验。在这项研究结束时，我们将做好扩展的准备 我们的3D打印微流控人工肺在大型动物模型上进行了测试，并扩大到更大的额定值 血液流动。因此，列出的目标对于推动这项前景看好的技术向最初的 退伍军人肺部康复系统。

The long-term goal of this technology development project is to improve rehabilitation of Veterans suffering from lung disease through the development of the first truly portable, biocompatible, artificial lung capable of short and long term respiratory support. Current artificial lungs have recently been 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 closely mimic those found in their natural counterpart. 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 Merit proposal are thus to: 1) optimize resin [resolution, permeability, toxicity, and blood compatibility] for microfluidic artificial lungs; 2) Construct an adult-scale 3D printed microfluidic lung and validate in vitro; and, 3) Acute and chronic in vivo testing of an adult-scale µAL. At the conclusion of this study, we will be ready to for extended testing of our 3D printed microfluidic artificial lungs in a large animal model and for scaling up to larger rated blood flows. The listed objectives are thus critical to advancing this promising technology towards initial acute systems for Veteran pulmonary rehabilitation.