Polymeric adsorbent for removing toxic proteins from blood of patients with kidney failure

A hypercrosslinked styrenic polymer with an enhanced proportion of mesopores in the range 2-20 nm has been developed. The principle of the synthesis consists of the suspension polymerization of divinylbenzene (or copolymerization of styrene with divinylbenzene) in the presence of a porogen that is a Theta-solvent for polystyrene. On the scale of thermodynamic affinity, Theta-solvents occupy a border position between good solvents and precipitating media for the growing polymer chains. In this case, microphase separation takes place during the final stages of the polymerization process. The polymer was shown to adsorb 93-98% of beta(2)-microglobulin from the blood or plasma of patients with chronic kidney failure. At the same time, large essential proteins, like albumin, are not removed to a significant extent, obviously, due to the size-exclusion effect and the difference in the hydrophobicity of the proteins. By replacing surface exposed pendant vinyl groups of the polymer with hydrophilic functional groups, the material was made hemocompatible, according to the standard battery of biocompatibility tests required by ISO 10993 guidelines. No adverse effects such as fever or hypotension were noted in dogs in direct hemoperfusion experiments with the polymer. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.