HEART DECELLULARIZATION: DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF PERFUSION EQUIPMENT

Jonathas Haniel¹; Ana Paula Brandão¹; Rosana Cruz¹; Marcos Vale¹; Betânia Soares¹; Marcos Pinotti¹

¹ Bioengineering Laboratory/Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

doi:10.20906/CPS/COB-2015-2114

Resumo

Develop a decellularization equipment for perfusion is rather relevant to the success of decellularization of the whole heart, owing the diverse needs as fixation, cannulation and perfusion control and temperature. Perfusion was conceived to occur by the action of a positive displacement pump with rollers, which provides continuous flow with little vibration and no direct contact of any part of the machine with the pumped solution. The fixation of the heart will be made through structures which will cannulate its two large vessels, connecting it to the product cover, and also allowing the perfusion which will occur mainly via these vessels; following the perfusion method of Langendorff. The aim of this study was to design and development of perfusion equipment, and considering, during development, the possibility of controlling the pressure and flow of perfusion, whereas they are determined by the pipe diameter and the rotational speed of the rollers. The flow capacity ranges from 30 to 8000 ml/ min. Moreover, before starting the circulation in the organ, the solution will go through a heat exchanger, enabling the temperature control. Thus, this equipment is able to perform many existing decellularization protocols, facilitating the researches to characterize and to improve this process.

Palavras-chave: Cardiac bioengineering; Perfusion Process; Decellularization; Tissue engineering; Whole organ engineering