Towards the development of a bioartificial lung - establishment of a haemocompatible endothelialisation on TiO coated gas exchange membranes

Abstract

Objectives: Lung transplantation (Tx) remains the only curative therapy option for end stage lung disease. Due to an increasing mismatch of organ donors to organ recipients there is a high mortality rate on the organ waiting list. As bridge to Tx extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a common clinical use. Deposition of thrombus formation and other blood components within the ECMO cause its clinical use up to a few weeks. Therefore, the basic idea is to improve the haemocompatibility by endothelialisation of the poly-4-methyl-1-pentene gas exchange membranes (PMP), which necessitates the development of coating techniques for the mediation of endothelial cell adhesion to the hydrophobic polymeric materials. The pulsed vacuum cathodic arc plasma deposition (PVCAPD) technique has been shown to enable the coating of thermosensitive polymers. Hence the eligibility of Titaniumoxides (TiO) deposited on PMP using PVCAPD as an effective coating technique for enabling the endothelilization was assessed.