基于微载体技术的生物人工肝研究进展

Liver failure is associated with high morbidity and mortality without transplantation. Artificial liver support systems, especially the bioartificial livers, are the possible alternative with an idea to bridge the time to transplantation and/or recovery from liver failure. Bioartificial livers have bioreactors containing hepatocytes to provide both biotransformation and synthetic liver functions. The hepatocytes could be allogeneic or xenogeneic (animal origin). The patient's blood or plasma circulates through the bioreactors and after clearance of toxic compounds and addition of synthesized products via metabolism in hepatocytes, is returned to the patient. With the successful long-term propagation and culturing of human and pig hepatocytes, and the development of adequate biocompatible microcarrier modules, it is now possible to achieve sufficient density of hepatocytes per unit volume to develop bioartificial liver systems. The hollow-fiber bioreactor which is filled with hepatocytes growing on microcarriers has been widely used. The development of the bioartifical liver support system provides particularly appealing prospects as a pragmatic approach for future treatment of liver failure.