Micromachined bilayer unit of engineered tissues

• US 8,491,561 B2
• Filed: 08/16/2010
• Issued: 07/23/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Incorporated, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The General Hospital Corporation (Mass General Brigham, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Incorporated, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The General Hospital Corporation (Mass General Brigham, Inc.)
• Inventors: Borenstein, Jeffrey T., Weinberg, Eli, Orrick, Brian K., Pritchard, Eleanor M., Barnard, Edward J., Krebs, Nicholas J., Marentis, Theodore, Vacanti, Joseph P., Kaazempur-Mofrad, Mohammad Reza
• Primary Examiner(s): Ford, Allison
• Application Number:
  US12/857,489
• Publication Number:
  US 20110056882A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,072 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 604/406
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 1/1678 intracorporal peritoneal dialysis A61M1/28
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 436/25375 Liberation or purification of sample or separation of material from a sample [e.g., filtering, centrifuging, etc.]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 436/255 including use of a solid sorbent, semipermeable membrane, or liquid extraction

Abstract

Methods and materials for making an apparatus which duplicates the functionality of a physiological system is provided.

Claims

1. An apparatus which duplicates the functionality of a physiological system, comprising:

a) a first mold defining upper and lower surfaces, wherein the lower surface of the first mold includes acellular microchannels formed thereon to create a microvascular network for circulation of fluids, wherein the acellular microchannels begin at one or more inlets, serially branch into a large array of acellular microchannels, and then converge back into one or more acellular microchannels at one or more outlets;

b) a second mold defining upper and lower surfaces, wherein the upper surface of the second mold includes acellular fluidic microchannels formed thereon; and

c) a semi-permeable membrane defining an upper surface and a lower surface, wherein the upper surface of the membrane is secured adjacent to the lower surface of the first mold and the lower surface of the membrane is secured adjacent to the upper surface of the second mold,

wherein small molecules are filtered from fluid in the microvascular network of the first mold through the semi-permeable membrane to the acellular fluidic chambers of the second mold.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising nutrient supply and excretion removal conduits in fluid communication with the apparatus.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising pumping means for circulating fluid through the apparatus.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising additional molds stacked upon the first and second molds to form about 8 to about 2000 layers.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the semi-permeable membrane is made of a material selected from the group consisting of cellulose, PolyDiMethylSiloxane, PolyMethylMethacrylate, PolyEtherSulfone, PolySulfone, PolyCarbonate, PolyLactide-co-Glycolide, PolyCaproLactone and Biorubber.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein there is a pattern of microchannels in each of the first and second molds and the pattern in the first mold is identical to the pattern in the second mold.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein there is a pattern of microchannels in each of the first and second molds and the pattern in the first mold is non-identical to the pattern in the second mold.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a coating on at least one surface that includes a blood clot-preventing compound.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the semi-permeable membrane is biodegradable.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the semi-permeable membrane has pores of between about 0.01 and about 20 μ

m.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the molds comprises through-holes.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the fluid is blood.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the acellular microchannels are about 100 μ

m to about 900 μ

m in width and height.