Membrane-Based Blood Reconstitution Devices

We will develop microporous hollow filters (MPHF) for use in separating glycerol fromcryopreserved human blood cells following thawing. The Investigators suggest that this type systemwould be practical, efficient and economic when compared to the current centrifugation practicesemployed to accomplish deglycerination at present. This is a project designed to develop similarmethodology for the preparation of plasma by filtration for analysis. They cite preliminary data from theirexperience in which 3 ml of plasma can be isolated from 10 ml of whole blood by filtration throughpolysulfoam filters in a 3 minute period. They state that plasma obtained by that method isindistinguishable from that prepared by centrifugation when analyzed for hemolysis, glucose, BUN CO2and total protein. They emphasizes that the system they are utilizing is a completely closed filtrationsystem which should avoid contamination with microorganisms. They state that other filtration deviceshave been developed at SymBiotech which can extract drugs from plasma, serum and whole blood withabout 90% efficiency using only 50 to 100 microliters of serum and less than 50 microliters of organicsolvent. In Phase I of this application, they plan initially to determine the best MPHF material anddimensions for separating glycerine from the red blood cell fraction without inducing hemolysis.Subsequently, they plan to determine optimal blood flow rates through their system such that maximalglycerine can be removed from the blood cell suspension without inducing hemolysis. Then using thisinformation, they will design and build a MPHF based blood reconstitution system consistent with thematerial and fluid mechanics determined in their initial studies. This device will subsequently beoptimized to maximize efficiency and cost saving.