Heparin Used in Blood-Compatible Nanoscale Materials

Researchers have engineered nanoscale materials that are blood compatible by using heparin, an anticoagulant. These new heparin biomaterials show promise for use as medical devices and in medical treatments such as kidney dialysis.

Heparin is a common therapeutic used to maintain blood flow or prevent clotting during medical procedures or treatments. The researchers prepared several materials with heparin composites or coatings, including carbon nanotubes, nanofibers, and membranes with nanosized pores, and then demonstrated the materials' high compatibility with blood.

The researchers also demonstrated that the composite heparin membrane with nanopores could work as an artificial kidney, or dialyzer, by filtering the blood and maintaining its flow. The presence of this blood-compatible dialyzer could potentially eliminate the need for systemic administration of heparin to the patient during kidney dialysis, the researchers say.

The researchers were from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY, USA) and their findings were described in the April 24, 2006, online edition of the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research.

"These heparin composite membranes and fibers and coated carbon nanotubes are an enabling technology,” noted Saravanababu Murugesan, a recent doctoral graduate in chemical and biological engineering at Rensselaer and lead author of the paper. "Our results show these novel materials have great promise in the development of improved medical devices that are blood compatible.”



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Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst.