Microfluidic Blood Purification

描述(申请人提供)：基于血液净化的新概念：血液与可混溶的冲洗液直接接触，设想开发一种可穿戴的人工肾。使用这一概念的系统需要几个组件。这项提议将重点放在关键部件上，即一种无膜接触器，在这种接触器中，一层薄薄的血液被两层冲洗液包裹。这三张纸在一起流动约1秒，不混合，然后分离。使用纳米孔过滤器以确保分离的清洗液不含细胞。血液毒素转移到洗涤液的速度比目前的设备要快得多，接触面积也小得多。血液只接触接触器中的另一种液体，而不是固体。这项拟议的研究将证明，混合是有限的，流动是稳定的，传输速度与计算的一样快，过滤器保留细胞而不会堵塞。临床上有效的接触器将非常小，而且容易磨损。如果成功，该系统将是35年来透析治疗的第一次重大变化，也将是微流控和纳滤在治疗医学中的第一次应用。这一系统将允许对肾衰竭进行稳定的、更具生理性的补偿，而不是目前在临床上进行的紧张治疗。这将是透析治疗中最早的创新之一，有可能降低治疗成本。然而，即使完全实现了无膜接触器，在该设备可以用于普通患者之前，还必须解决其他被认为不那么困难但仍然重要的技术问题。早期开发一种用于治疗终末期肾脏疾病(ESRD)的可穿戴人工肾。它基于血液净化的新概念：血液与可混溶的冲洗液直接无膜接触，不混合。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Development of a wearable artificial kidney is envisioned, based on a new concept in blood purification: direct contact of blood with a miscible rinsing fluid. A system that uses this concept would require several components. This proposal is sharply focused on the critical component, a membraneless contactor in which a thin sheet of blood is sheathed by two sheets of rinsing fluid. The three sheets flow together for about 1 sec without mixing and are then separated. Nanopore filters are used to assure that the separated rinsing fluid contains no cells. The speed of blood toxin transfer to the rinsing fluid is much higher than in current devices and the area of contact is much less. Blood contacts only another fluid, no solid, in the contactor. The proposed research would prove that mixing is limited, that the flow is stable, that transfer is as rapid as calculated, and that the filters retain cells without clogging. A clinically effective contactor would be very small and easily worn. If successful, this system would be the first major change in dialysis therapy in 35 years, and would be the first application of microfluidics and nanofiltration to therapeutic medicine. This system would allow steady, more physiological compensation for kidney failure than is possible with current intense episodes of treatment in clinics. It would be one of the first innovations in dialysis therapy with the potential of lowering the cost of therapy. However, even if the membraneless contactor is fully realized, other technical problems, thought to be less difficult but still significant, must be solved before the device could be made available to the general patient population.Early development of a wearable artificial kidney for the treatment of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) is envisioned. It is based on a new concept in blood purification: direct membraneless contact, without mixing, of blood with a miscible rinsing fluid.