Researchers from the MIRA Institute at the University of Twente are working on a new generation of haemodialysis membranes. These mixed matrix membranes (MMM) are able to remove much more protein-bound toxins from human plasma than existing membranes. An article on this study was recently published in Nature Scientific Reports.
There are about 6,500 kidney patients in the Netherlands who have to undergo haemodialysis three to four times a week because no suitable donor kidneys can be found for them. Their mortality rates are high (15-20%), as are their morbidity rates, while their quality of life is low. This is due to the fact that current dialysis techniques are only 10 to 15% as effective in removing toxins from the blood as healthy kidneys. They only filter out small, soluble toxin molecules from the blood. The larger, protein-bound toxin molecules are not removed, and accumulate in the patient’s body.
Scientists from the University of Twente, led by Prof. Dimitrios Stamatialis, are working together with colleagues from the University Medical Center (UMC) in Utrecht and Ghent University to develop a new generation of membranes that make use of two different techniques. These mixed matrix membranes (MMM) combine the advantages of haemodialysis (filtration by means of diffusion) and haemoperfusion (adsorption). The adsorption is produced by active carbon particles distributed throughout the membrane, which bind toxins and help to remove them. The new membranes have a lower diameter than the first generation of MMM from 2013 and filter out the protein albumin, which the earlier model did not.
The results published in Nature Scientific Reports show that MMM technology gives appreciably better results than existing dialysis methods. The membranes remove two to three times as much protein-bound toxins, while maintaining a good fluid balance. These results were obtained in tests on human plasma. The researchers plan to perform further in vitro tests of the membranes using blood, followed by in vivo tests on animals. The ultimate aim is to use MMM technology in the development of a portable artificial kidney.
This research forms part of the doctoral study of Denys Pavlenko, and is funded by the European BIOART programme. Denys Pavlenko and his research supervisor Prof. Dimitrios Stamatialis are members of the Biomaterials Science and Technology research group at MIRA, the University of Twente’s institute for biomedical engineering and technical medicine. This group forms part of a larger initiative, aimed at producing a compact dialysis unit with nearly the same purifying effect as a real kidney. A three-dimensional nephron on which living renal tissue has been grown has already been developed as part of this initiative.
