Water-soluble adsorbent β-cyclodextrin-grafted polyethyleneimine for removing bilirubin from plasma

A water-soluble adsorbent was developed for removing bilirubin from the plasma of hyper-bilirubinemia patient. The adsorbent was synthesized by grafting beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) to branched polyethyleneimine (PEI) matrix. The resulting beta-CD-PEI polymer had an average molecular weight of 163.7 kD, and it contained 56.3 beta-CD functional groups. In beta-CD-PEI-spiked dialysis, 35.8% of plasma bilirubin was removed, which was higher than that removed by the same concentration of bovine serum albumin. beta-CD-PEI also removed aromatic amino acids and bile acids. The results indicated that beta-CD-PEI could be an effective adsorbent for blood purification application aiming at the removal of toxins. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd.