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

肺部疾病是全球第三大死亡原因。对于不可逆的晚期肺部疾病患者，肺移植是唯一的长期治疗方法。由于没有合适的捐赠者，器官捐赠不仅需要至少18个月的等待。最终获得肺移植的患者由于“器官功能不佳”而康复的机会不到20%。因此，不仅需要人工肺作为永久性替代器官，而且需要人工肺作为移植的桥梁。现有的人工肺装置不能模拟人肺的流动气体交换特性，并且具有低生物相容性，导致不期望的血液凝固和溶血，这限制了它们长达30天的适用性。目前人工肺技术的复杂性和风险意味着它们不能作为长期的肺替代品或移植的合适桥梁。通过这个为期36个月的EIC探路者项目，由Smart Reactors爱尔兰领导的财团旨在开发世界上第一种生物基纳米材料“纳米纤维素”，以制造一种人工肺设备，用作肺移植的桥梁。该联盟将开发一种初步的概念验证纳米纤维素装置，以证明血液中的气体转移和初始血液相容性。所提出的方法预计有两个好处，第一个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.