Normalization of Blood Biochemistry Parameters Using Experimental Hybrid Plasma Filter for Bioartificial Liver

Abstract

Abstract Auxiliary bioartificial liver (BAL) is a promising direction for supporting liver functions in acute liver failure. However, clinical trials of BAL have not shown convincing results so far. We present a prototype of a hybrid biocomposite plasma filter containing living immortalized hepatocytes. This filter is designed to integrate into the biological circuit of the extracorporeal blood purification system with the aim of mimicking some functions of the liver. Due to the presence of hepatocytes in the filter, adequate metabolism of plasma substrates is ensured when blood contacts with special perforated membranes. We used HepG2 cell line as working cells. For evaluating the performance of the filter, we applied plasma from patients with liver failure who had abnormalities in biochemical indicators of blood. We analyzed concentrations of albumin, total and direct bilirubin and urea as criteria for effectiveness. Our results indicate normalization of these parameters after passing plasma through 7 filters and improvement after passing through 1 filter. This confirms the effectiveness of our prototype and creates a basis for developing a new extracorporeal BAL.

Keywords

• artificial liver
• hepatocytes
• plasma filtration
• liver
• cell cultivation