EndOxy: Dynamic Long-Term Evaluation of Endothelialized Gas Exchange Membranes for a Biohybrid Lung

Sarah Klein, Felix Hesselmann, Suzana Djeljadini, Tanja Berger, Anja Lena Thiebes, Thomas Schmitz-Rode, Stefan Jockenhoevel*, Christian G. Cornelissen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

In the concept of a biohybrid lung, endothelial cells seeded on gas exchange membranes form a non-thrombogenic an anti-inflammatory surface to overcome the lacking hemocompatibility of today's oxygenators during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. To evaluate this concept, the long-term stability and gas exchange performance of endothelialized RGD-conjugated polydimethylsiloxane (RGD-PDMS) membranes was evaluated. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (ECs) were cultured on RGD-PDMS in a model system under physiological wall shear stress (WSS) of 0.5 Pa for up to 33 days. Gas exchange performance was tested with three biological replicates under elevated WSS of 2.5 Pa using porcine blood adjusted to venous values following ISO 7199 and blood gas analysis. EC morphology was assessed by immunocytochemistry (n = 3). RGD-PDMS promoted endothelialization and stability of endothelialized membranes was shown for at least 33 days and for a maximal WSS of 2.5 Pa. Short-term exposure to porcine blood did not affect EC integrity. The gas transfer tests provided evidence for the oxygenation and decarboxylation of the blood across endothelialized membranes with a decrease of transfer rates over time that needs to be addressed in further studies with larger sample sizes. Our results demonstrate the general suitability of RGD-PDMS for biohybrid lung applications, which might enable long-term support of patients with chronic lung failure in the future.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)747-756
Number of pages10
JournalAnnals of Biomedical Engineering
Volume48
Issue number2
Early online date21 Nov 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2020

Keywords

  • Artificial lung
  • Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation
  • Gas transfer
  • Tissue engineering
  • Whole blood
  • VON-WILLEBRAND-FACTOR
  • CELLS
  • SECRETION
  • ADHESION

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