Bioartificial kidney

Humes HD, FissellWH,Weitzel WF, Buffington DA, Westover AJ, MacKay SM, Gutierrez JM Metabolic replacement of kidney function in uremic animals with a bioartificial kidney containing human cells. American Journal of Kidney Diseases 39 1078-1087, 2002... 

Below, we will refer to two typical cases of MBR application in artificial organ engineering the bioartificial kidney and bioartifidal liver. It should be noted that the clinical impact of the artifidal kidney and liver is quite different. The artificial kidney, in its hollow-fiber modules form, is the most employed hemopurification device. The therapy for chronic renal failure concerns hundreds of thousands of patients all over the dvilized world, making the artificial kidney one of the most diffused biomedical devices on... 

Similar set-ups have been conceived for other organs devoted to toxin removal from the blood flow the bioartificial kidney, precisely, is a modification of the common hollow-fiber hemodialyzer, which has widespread use in the clinical practice of hydrosoluble toxin removal upon kidney failure. 

Researchers are working on bioartificial kidney devices that would aid patients with diabetes and... 

Although current dialysis therapy is life-sustaining, its simple physical transport processes cannot replace the complex transport, metabolic, and endocrine functions of the tubular cells. A bioartificial kidney that includes a conventional dialysis filter and a renal tubule assist device (RenaMed Biologies, formerly Nephros Therapeutics) containing approximately 10 renal proximal tubule cells was recently successfiiUy engineered (Tiranathanagul et al., 2005 Humes et al., 1999). In the renal tubule device, cells are... 

Tiranathanagul, K., Eiam-Ong, S., and Humes, H. D. (2005). The future of renal support High-flux dialysis to bioartificial kidneys. Crit. Care Clin. 21, 379. 

Whole-cell, hollow-fiber MBR are still under development. Despite their significant potential they have, so far, found only limited application for biochemicals production. One of the reasons is that cleaning of the hollow-fiber membranes is difficult, especially when whole-cell biocatalysts are immobilized in the small fibers. The mass transfer between the nutrients and cells has also to be taken into consideration and enhanced. Immobilizing the biocatalysts in porous beads, instead of directly on the membrane, may tend to avoid some of these problems, and to simplify membrane cleaning. The concept of using MBR as bioartificial organs is technically very attractive the various MBR under development, however, must still be validated with clinical results. One can expect, however, that their development will follow the success of artificial kidneys, which are currently employed worldwide. 

Examples of medical textiles used in extracorporeal medical devices include the use of hollow fibres and membranes (made om polyester, polypropylene, silicone, viscose) for production of bioartificial organs, such as the kidneys, liver and lungs. 

Instead, artificial liver application is relatively more recent and, in any case, it is a short-term bridge therapy that applies to a few cases of acute liver failure. Nevertheless, the correct application of this hemopurification procedure is vital for liver regeneration - the liver, unfike the kidney, is able to regenerate - implying complete patient recovery. For this reason, the bioartificial liver is a key solution to improve the probability of patient recovery, since the liver biological functions other than toxin removal are essential for the whole body health. 

Humes HD, MacKay SM, Funke AJ et al. Tissue engineering of a bioartificial renal tubule assist device In vitro transport and metabolic characteristics. Kidney Int 1999 55 2502-2514. 

Very recently, endothelial progenitor cells encapsulated in a bioartificial niche such as hyaluronic acid gel were tested (Ratliff et al. 2010). These observations suggest that controlling stem and progenitor cell differentiation may lead to successful regeneration of kidney tissues. 

---