title: The cell engineering construction and function evaluation of multi-layer biochip dialyzer.
abstract: We report the fabrication and function evaluation of multi-layer biochip dialyzer. Such device may potentially be applied to the wearable hemodialysis systems. By merging the advantages of microfluidic chip technology with cell engineering, both functions of glomerular filtration and renal tubule physiological activity are integrated in the same device. This device is designed into a laminated structure, in which the chip number of the superimposed layer can be arbitrarily tailored in accordance with the requirements of dialysis capacity. We propose that such structure can overcome the obstacles of large size and detached structure of the traditional hollow fiber dialyzer. To construct this multilayer biochips dialyzer, two types of dialyzer device with two-layered and six-layered chips are assembled, respectively. Cell adhesion and proliferation on three different dialysis membrane materials under static and dynamic conditions are investigated and compared. The filtration capability, re-absorption function and excrete ammonia function of the resulting multi-layer biochip dialyzer are evaluated. The results reveal that the constructed device can perform higher filtration efficiency and also play a role of renal tubule. This methodology may be useful in developing "scaling down" artificial kidneys that can act as wearable or even implantable hemodialysis systems.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Material Processing and Die & Mould Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China. wennar@mail.hust.edu.cn
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Jiwei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jianfeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000641:Ammonia / Q000032:analysis; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D060846:Cell Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D002460:Cell Line; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002470:Cell Survival; D004867:Equipment Design; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005374:Filtration; D061307:Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells; D006801:Humans; D007688:Kidneys, Artificial; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000295:instrumentation*
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D000641:Ammonia