A simple and inexpensive membrane “lung” for small organ perfusion

Abstract

A disposable coil of thin-walled Silastic tubing, permeable to oxygen and carbon dioxide, functioned as a “lung” for perfusion of isolated rat liver. This “lung,” which can be easily assembled from laboratory supplies, has a number of advantages over devices that utilize large air–liquid interfaces for gas exchange. Rates of hepatic lipoprotein triglyceride secretion, comparable to those obtained with more complex oxygenation systems, are achieved with this simple device

Keywords

• rat liver
• gas exchange
• oxygenation
• disposable Silastic tubing
• triglyceride production
• lipoprotein secretion