DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL PORTABLE BLOOD PUR IFICATION SYSTEM WITH NO MEMBRANE FOR SEPARATION

A blood purification module is developed with edible agar or Gelrite(R ) for plant tissue culture in which charcoal/enzyme was dispersed. Tap water (or normal saline) is boiled and agar (or Gelrite(R)) powder wa s dissolved in it. The solution was hardened with either no additive, activated charcoal or urease in a plastic hard shell with aperforated bottom plate to assemble Module A (Agar only), AC (Agar with Charcoal) or AU (Agar with Urease), respectively. The hardened gel was thrust w ith a plastic straw 21 times in the flow direction. Aqueous test solut ion was prepared for the experiment. Bromophenol blue (BPB) concentrat ion decreased only by 10% with Module A, whereas it gradually decrease d according to the amount of activated charcoal dispersed in the agar with Module AC; moreover, it reached its lower-limit, found by direct use of the same amount of intact activated charcoal. Module AC can als o remove BPB and creatinine at the same time from the binary-solute te st solution. To reduce urea and creatinine concentrations with one dev ice, Module AUC was also assembled by combining AC and AU modules that should trap creatinine and decompose urea into ammonia and carbon dio xide. A portable artificial kidney system may be constructed by a comb ination of these modules with a small hemofilter for removing excess w ater.