Scientists separately in the U.S. and the U.K. have been working on developing an artificial liver. The artificial liver works outside the body in a way similar to kidney dialysis. The idea is to create a device that would buy time for a patient with acute liver failure where the liver has the potential to regenerate. Blood would be taken from the patient directly into the bioartificial liver, allowing their own liver a rest from processing toxins. This could allow the patient's liver to heal itself. The treatment would take a number of weeks or months before the liver was repaired.

It could also be used as a bridge to transplantation where the patient has chronic liver failure due to hepatitis, cirrhosis or other irreversible damage, and would buy valuable time before transplantation. It will provide some of the lost functions.

HepaMate™ made by Hepalife will be undergoing a new pivotal Phase III clinical trial in the United States in 2010. It follows a clinical Phase I and pivotal Phase II/III studies involving more than 200 patients. which revealed a statistically significant survival advantage for patients with fulminant and subfulminant hepatic failure when treated with HepaMate compared to controls receiving standard medical care alone.

• HepaLife Technologies is developing the first of its kind artificial liver device. Their patented artificial liver device, is designed to operate outside the patient's body (extracorporeal). The machine mimics important functions of the human liver by circulating the patients blood inside the artificial liver device where it is exposed to HepaLife's patented PICM-19 liver cells inside a bioreactor unit. HepaMate is designed to combine blood detoxification with liver cell therapy to provide whole liver function in patients with the most severe forms of liver failure. Liver cells detoxify existing toxins, produce albumin and other liver-specific proteins. A patented liver cell cryopreservation process provides for safe and easy storing and distribution, a significant logistic and commercial advantage.
  
  
  During therapy, the patient's plasma is separated from whole blood, exposed to the HepaMate bioartificial liver and returned to the patient. HepaMate is comprised of a blood plasma separation cartridge, a hollow-fiber bioreactor filled with proprietary porcine liver cells, a charcoal column, an oxygenator, circuit tubing and a plasma reservoir. These components are assembled into a blood/plasma circulation system, which is placed on the HepaDrive™ perfusion platform.
  
  
• Nov 2007 - Scottish scientists also created a 'bioartificial' liver using living cells in a machine that filters blood and takes over the functions of the natural liver. The team of University of Strathclyde researchers are at the forefront of the technology in the UK. Dr John Gaylor, from the Bioengineering Unit at the University, has led the team responsible for developing the artificial liver. They have already created devices that replicate the functions of the liver and are now developing ways to allow the living cells used within the device to thrive better. Patients could benefit from the treatment within a decade if sufficient funding is put into the research. Gaylor and his team used live cells taken from rats' livers and placed them on plates in a specially constructed machine. They coated the inside of the plates with a special protein mixture that allowed them to stick and continue to thrive. Animal blood was pumped into the bioartificial liver and it was shown to have been detoxified by the cells in a similar way to how the liver normally functions. The scientists then 'spiked' the blood with toxins usually found in the blood of patients suffering from liver disease and found this was successfully removed as well. Gaylor and his team are now looking at how to make the liver cells work best.

Josh

Artificial Livers Mar 19 2010 08:22:46 It will be better when the artificial liver can be implanted

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