Journal
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NANOBIOSCIENCE
Volume 21, Issue 4, Pages 529-541Publisher
IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC
DOI: 10.1109/TNB.2021.3131351
Keywords
Kidney; Microfluidics; Electric potential; Diseases; Fluids; Biomembranes; Electric fields; Proximal convoluted tubule; artificial kidney; kidney-on-chip; electrophoresis; di-electrophoresis
Funding
- National Institute of Technology Silchar
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This study designs a fully artificial and highly controllable bioreactor to mimic the reabsorption function of the kidney. By utilizing electrophoresis and dielectrophoresis techniques, the bioreactor achieves a reabsorption rate similar to the proximal convoluted tubule of the normal human kidney. Dielectrophoresis proves to be more efficient in realizing the bioreactor.
The need for innovation in medical device technology is immense; especially to replace dialysis techniques the necessity is extremely high. Available techniques that promised to replace dialysis have not yet geared up to the marketization level. The utilization of live kidney cells makes these devices costly, delicate, and unreliable. This paper aims to design a bioreactor to mimic the reabsorption function of the kidney that is fully artificial and highly controllable, which can be one step forward to the emerging Kidney-on-Chip (KOC) technology. The additional benefit of the proposed design is that it utilizes size-dependent reabsorption along with charge-dependent reabsorption phenomena to make it more compatible with human kidney function. The electrophoresis (EP), and di-electrophoresis (DEP) techniques are utilized to mimic the reabsorption function in this report. The structure utilized in the present design exactly replicates the proximal convoluted tubule (PCT) dimensions and functions as well. The whole setup is implemented in the COMSOL Multiphysics FEM benchmark tool for simulation, and analysis with appropriate boundary conditions. The device when excited by an electric field, Electrophoresis has produced a maximum velocity of 1.07 m/s for DC excitation and di-electrophoresis has produced a maximum flow velocity of 1.23 m/s, where both the offset voltages are the same (0.7 V). The flow velocity obtained utilizing both EP and DEP produced a reabsorption rate of 50-58% depending on the voltage applied and dimensions considered which is close to 60% reabsorption rate of the normal human kidney PCT. In accordance with the outcomes produced, the di-electrophoresis technique proved to be more efficient in realizing bioreactor as compared to electrophoresis. The novelty of the present work lies in the creation of a simulation environment, rigorous analysis, and optimization of the bioreactor supported by compact mathematical model.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available