Solute washout experiments for characterizing mass transport in hollow fiber immunoisolation membranes

The transport characteristics of immunoisolation membranes can have a critical effect on the design of hybrid artificial organs and cell therapies. However, it has been difficult to quantitatively evaluate the desired transport properties of different hollow fiber membranes due to bulk mass transfer limitations in the fiber lumen and annular space. An attractive alternative to existing methodologies is to use the rate of solute removal or "washout" from the annular space during constant flow perfusion through the fiber lumen. Experimental washout curves were obtained for glucose and a 10 kD dextran in two different hollow fiber devices. Data were analyzed using a theoretical model which accounts for convective and diffusive transport in the lumen, membrane, and annular space. The model was in good agreement with the experimental results and provided an accurate measure of the effective membrane diffusion coefficient for both small and large solutes. This approach should prove useful in theoretical analyses of solute transport and performance of hollow fiber artificial organs. (C) 1998 Biomedical Engineering Society.