Antithrombotic Protein Filter Composed of Hybrid Tissue-Fabric Material has a Long Lifetime

There are recent reports of hybrid tissue–fabric materials with good performance—high biocompatibility and high mechanical strength. In this study, we demonstrate the capability of a hybrid material as a long-term filter for blood proteins. Polyester fabrics were implanted into rats to fabricate hybrid tissue–fabric material sheets. The hybrid materials comprised biological tissue grown on the fabric. The materials were extracted from the rat’s body, approximately 100 days post-implantation. The tissues were decellularized to prevent immunological rejection. An antithrombogenicity test was performed by dropping blood onto the hybrid material surface. The hybrid material showed lesser blood coagulation than polysulfone and cellulose. Blood plasma was filtered using the hybrid material to evaluate the protein removal percentage and the lifetime of the hybrid material in vitro. The hybrid material showed a comparable performance to conventional filters for protein removal. Moreover, the hybrid material could work as a protein filter for 1 month, which is six times the lifetime of polysulfone.