Advancement in separation materials for blood purification therapy

MOF-Based Platform for Kidney Diseases: Advances, Challenges, and Prospects

Kidney diseases are important diseases that affect human health worldwide. According to the 2020 World Health Organization (WHO) report, kidney diseases have become the top 10 causes of death. Strengthening the prevention, primary diagnosis, and action of kidney-related diseases is of great significance in maintaining human health and improving the quality of life. It is increasingly challenging to address clinical needs with the present technologies for diagnosing and treating renal illness. Fortunately, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have shown great promise in the diagnosis and treatment of kidney diseases. This review summarizes the research progress of MOFs in the diagnosis and treatment of renal disease in recent years. Firstly, we introduce the basic structure and properties of MOFs. Secondly, we focus on the utilization of MOFs in the diagnosis and treatment of kidney diseases. In the diagnosis of kidney disease, MOFs are usually designed as biosensors to detect biomarkers related to kidney disease. In the treatment of kidney disease, MOFs can not only be used as an effective adsorbent for uremic toxins during hemodialysis but also as a precise treatment of intelligent drug delivery carriers. They can also be combined with nano-chelation technology to solve the problem of the imbalance of trace elements in kidney disease. Finally, we describe the current challenges and prospects of MOFs in the diagnosis and treatment of kidney diseases.

Interfacial Interaction between Functionalization of Polysulfone Membrane Materials and Protein Adsorption

This study that modified polysulfone membranes with different end-group chemical functionalities were prepared using chemical synthesis methods and experimentally characterized. The molecular dynamics (MD) method were used to discuss the adsorption mechanism of proteins on functionalized modified polysulfone membrane materials from a molecular perspective, revealing the interactions between different functionalized membrane surfaces and protein adsorption. Theoretical analysis combined with basic experiments and MD simulations were used to explore the orientation and spatial conformational changes of protein adsorption at the molecular level. The results show that BSA exhibits different variability and adsorption characteristics on membranes with different functional group modifications. On hydrophobic membrane surfaces, BSA shows the least stable configuration stability, making it prone to nonspecific structural changes. In addition, surface charge effects lead to electrostatic repulsion for BSA and reduce the protein adsorption sites. These MD simulation results are consistent with experimental findings, providing new design ideas and support for modifying blood-compatible membrane materials.

Application of blood purification based on a new type of nanofiber membrane in critically ill patients and comparative analysis of its nursing methods

Blood purification technology is one of the main treatment methods to prolong the life of severe patients. The traditional blood purification membrane materials have the disadvantages of non-selective adsorption, single pore size and low permeability, and need to develop new and efficient blood purification membrane materials. To explore the application of a new type of nanofiber membrane in blood purification of critically ill patients and compare and analyze its nursing methods. When the experimental subjects are performing blood purification, a new nanofiber membrane material is used in the purification machine. The control group adopted conventional nursing methods, while the experimental group adopted targeted nursing methods based on the nursing methods of the control group. After intervention, the eight indicators of quality of life in the experimental group were significantly improved (P < 0.05), for example, the score of physiological function was increased from 41.042 ± 7.625 to 54.236 ± 2.544, and the energy status was increased from 46.094 ± 7.192 to 59.768 ± 4.241. The physiological and biochemical indexes of both groups tend to be normal, but the experimental group is more obvious. The patients in the experimental group were more satisfied with the nursing services provided in the process. The new blood purification method of nanofiber membrane can overcome the shortcomings of traditional purification and remove toxic small and medium-sized molecules to the maximum extent.

MWCNTs Composites-Based on New Chemically Modified Polysulfone Matrix for Biomedical Applications

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is a non-toxic biosynthetic polymer. Due to the hydrophilic properties of the PVA, its utilization is an easy tool to modify the properties of materials inducing increased hydrophilicity, which can be noticed in the surface properties of the materials, such as wettability. Based on this motivation, we proposed to obtain high-performance composite materials by a facile synthetic method that involves the cross-linking process of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) with and aldehyde-functionalized polysulfone(mPSF) precursor, prior to incorporation of modified MWCNTs with hydrophilic groups, thus ensuring a high compatibility between the polymeric and the filler components. Materials prepared in this way have been compared with those based on polyvinyl alcohol and same fillers (mMWCNTs) in order to establish the influence of the polymeric matrix on the composites properties. The amount of mMWCNTs varied in both polymeric matrices between 0.5 and 5 wt%. Fourier transformed infrared with attenuated total reflectance spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR) was employed to confirm the changes noted in the PVA, mPSF and their composites. Hemolysis degree was investigated in correlation with the material structural features. Homogenous distribution of mMWCNTs in all the composite materials has been confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. The hydrophilicity of both composite systems, estimated by the contact angle method, was influenced by the presence of the filler amount mMWCNTs in both matrices (PVA and mPSF). Our work demonstrates that mPSF/mMWCNTs and PVA/mMWCNTs composite could be used as water purification or blood-filtration materials.

Multi-Functional Hypercrosslinked Polystyrene as High-Performance Adsorbents for Artificial Liver Blood Purification

In artificial liver blood purification system, highly efficient removal of multiple toxic metabolites from whole blood by hemoperfusion still remains a challenge in the clinical field, due to the limited unspecific absorptive capacity and low biocompatibility of adsorbents. In this work, a new pyridinyl-modified hypercrosslinked polystyrene (HCP) adsorbent, named HCP(St-DVB-VP), was constructed directly through a Friedel-Crafts post-crosslinking reaction using a small-molecule crosslinking agent for the first time. The preparation method provides in this study can avert the problem posed by the use of the toxic carcinogenic chloromethyl ether reagent in the traditional HCP resin synthesis process. The results indicated that HCP(St-DVB-VP) had a highly porous structure with a specific surface area of 761 m² g⁻¹. Notably, the adsorbent demonstrated excellent adsorptive properties towards both protein-bound toxins (bilirubin) and medium- and large-sized molecular toxins (PTH, IL-6) in vitro experiments simultaneously. More importantly, the obtained adsorbent showed acceptable hemocompatibility. Taken together, the low-cost and ecofriendly fabrication method, broad-spectrum adsorption performance and hemocompatibility makes the HCP(St-DVB-VP) promising for whole blood perfusion in artificial liver blood purification in clinical practice.

Review: Southern African medicinal plants used as blood purifiers

ETHNOPHARMALOGICAL RELEVANCE

Blood purification practices, also referred to as blood cleansing or detoxification, is an ancient concept which is widespread amongst African traditional medicine, but for which no modern scientific basis exists. There prevails considerable ambiguity in defining what a blood purifier is.

AIM OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this review is to firstly define what a blood purifier is in the context of African traditional medicine and compare to other cultural and westernized interpretations. Thereafter, this study identifies traditionally used medicinal plants used as blood purifiers in southern Africa and correlates these species to scientific studies, which may support evidence for these "blood purifying plant species".

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Ethnobotanical books and review articles were used to identify medicinal plants used for blood purification. Databases such as Scopus, ScienceDirect, PubMed and Google Scholar were used to source scientific articles. An evaluation was made to try correlate traditional use to scientific value of the plant species.

RESULTS

One hundred and fifty nine plant species have been documented as traditional remedies for blood purification. Most of the plant species have some pharmacological activity, however, very little link to the traditional use for blood purification. There has been some justification of the link between blood purification and the use as an antimicrobial and this has been explored in many of the plant species identified as blood purifiers. Other pharmacological studies specifically pertaining to the blood require further attention.

CONCLUSION

Irrespective of the ambiguity of interpretation, medicinal plants used to "cleanse the blood", play an important holistic role in traditional medicine and this review with recommendations for further study provides some value of exploring this theme in the future.