Strategies to improve blood compatibility of dialysis membranes
[1] Advanced Organ bioengineering and Therapeutics, Faculty of Science and Technology,
TechMed Centre, University of Twente, The Netherlands
Abstract
Organ transplantation is the best treatment for patients of end stage renal disease, however, the low number of available organs creates a notable healthcare challenge. Hemodialysis is the main renal replacement therapy for these patients, but it is non-continuous (3 times per week for 4 hours each) due to practical, logistical and health-related reasons1,2,3. This results in a lower toxin removal efficiency and to poor quality of life for the patients. To achieve better patient outcomes, more continuous therapies such as home or portable hemodialysis are needed, which require fabrication of membranes with improved long-term hemocompatibility. Heparin-mimicking polymers4 can offer improved hemocompatibility but systemic anticoagulation is still needed, restricting their application in those patients who cannot tolerate anticoagulant administration.
Our approach for providing long term hemocompatibility involves the incorporation of Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) to dialysis membranes. GAGs are long linear polysaccharides that can be found in human’s glomerulus and provide natural anticoagulating properties. Recently, our group has shown that Danaparoid, which is a mixture of different GAGs, can provide improved blood compatibility of polymeric membranes compared to other types of GAGs5. In this study we focused on optimizing the efficiency of incorporation of Danaparoid to hollow fiber membranes. Danaparoid should ideally be located at the blood contacting layer of the membrane and should not leak during therapy. We investigated two strategies: blending of Danaparoid into the membrane forming polymer and post-treatment coatings of the membranes with Danaparoid.
References
[1] Stamatialis, Dimitrios, ed. Biomedical membranes and (bio) artificial organs. Vol. 2. World Scientific, 2017.
[2] Shan, Liang, et al. "Recent advances in heparinization of polymeric membranes for enhanced continuous blood purification." Journal of materials chemistry B 8.5 (2020): 878-894.
[3] Ter Beek, Odyl, et al. "New membranes based on polyethersulfone–SlipSkin™ polymer blends with low fouling and high blood compatibility." Separation and Purification Technology 225 (2019): 60-73.
[4] Wang, Chen, et al. "A facile way to prepare anti-fouling and blood-compatible polyethersulfone membrane via blending with heparin-mimicking polyurethanes." Materials Science and Engineering: C 78 (2017): 1035-1045.
[5] Kim, DooLi, et al. "Mixed matrix membranes with incorporated glycosaminoglycans have good blood biocompatibility combined to high toxin removal." Journal of Membrane Science (2024): 122669.
Acknowledgements
This work was finally supported by the NWO growth fund program - project NXTGEN Biomed 4.