The Roles of Membrane Technology in Artificial Organs: Current Challenges and Perspectives

Abstract

The recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 reasserted the necessity of artificial lung membrane technology to treat patients with acute lung failure. In addition, the aging world population inevitably leads to higher demand for better artificial organ (AO) devices. Membrane technology is the central component in many of the AO devices including lung, kidney, liver and pancreas. Although AO technology has improved significantly in the past few decades, the quality of life of organ failure patients is still poor and the technology must be improved further. Most of the current AO literature focuses on the treatment and the clinical use of AO, while the research on the membrane development aspect of AO is relatively scarce. One of the speculated reasons is the wide interdisciplinary spectrum of AO technology, ranging from biotechnology to polymer chemistry and process engineering. In this review, in order to facilitate the membrane aspects of the AO research, the roles of membrane technology in the AO devices, along with the current challenges, are summarized. This review shows that there is a clear need for better membranes in terms of biocompatibility, permselectivity, module design, and process configuration.

Artificial Kidney Engineering: The Development of Dialysis Membranes for Blood Purification

“…At present, various membranes for biomedical engineering such as artificial lungs, plasma exchange therapy, hemofiltration membranes, and hemoadsorption membranes are contributing to medical treatment around the world. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and the artificial liver or pancreas are all possible applications of membranes [28].…”

Trends, Advantages and Disadvantages in Combined Extracorporeal Lung and Kidney Support From a Technical Point of View

“…After passing through the centrifugal pump, the blood flow is directed to the oxygenator. The core of actual oxygenators is composed of thousands of small hollow fiber membranes with an outer diameter of 380 μm ( 55 , 56 ). These gas exchange membranes, similarly to the lung alveoli, provide the necessary interface for O 2 -application and CO 2 -removal, to reinfuse oxygenated and decarboxylated blood into the patient.…”

“…First, in an oxygenator, the blood is exposed to higher partial pressure gradients of O 2 and CO 2 than in the lung's alveoli. The feed gas flowing through the bore side of the membranes is enriched in oxygen or pure oxygen with an oxygen partial pressure (pO 2 ) of 760 mmHg ( 55 ). Therefore, the sweep gas has a higher pO 2 and lower partial pressure of CO 2 (pCO 2 ) than what found in alveolar air and driving forces up to 500–600 mmHg can be reached.…”

Membranes for the life sciences and their future roles in medicine

“…The basic unit of its function is the nephron, which participates in filtering wastewater and toxins in the blood and maintaining the balance of body fluid and electrolytes. An artificial kidney, also known as a dialyzer [30] , applies membrane technology to replace the kidney for the removal of toxins [31] . It was first proposed in the mid-19th century and was first realized for the clinical treatment of patients in 1945.…”