Abstracts: ASAIO Bioengineering/tissue Engineering Abstracts
IMPROVING IN VITRO PERFORMANCE OF A BIOARTIFICIAL LIVER (BAL) SYSTEM BY OPTIMIZING INLET OXYGEN FRACTION Linde, Peter G1,2 ; Brotherton, John D3 ; Maxwell, Kameron W3 ; Cosimi, Anthony B2 ; Alessandrini, Alessandro1,2 ; Williams, Winfred W1,2
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1 Renal Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA; 2 Transplantation Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA; 3 Vital Therapies, Inc., San Diego, CA.
Critical functions of a BAL system are dependent upon adequate oxygen supply. Increasing in inlet oxygen > 21 % (atmospheric) yields a substantial increase hepatocyte ammonia metabolism and protein production. We found that optimal conditions for the device occurred at an inlet oxygen fraction in the range of 52.6–78.9%. Specifically, albumin production increased by 140 %, Factor V by 49 %, and transferrin by 33 % (figure 1 ). Ammonia was supplied to the device at a rate of 9.6 uMol/min. Whereas the device produced 737 umol/hr ammonia at 21% oxygen, ammonia was consumed at 196 umol/hr at 78.9% (figure 2 ). The oxygen consumption rate (OCR) was below 200 mmol/hour at 21% oxygenation and peaked at 319 mmol/hour at 52.6% oxygen. We hypothesize that optimization of oxygen conditions will lead to improved patient outcomes.
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