Ali-BAL.
What?
This is the name for a new BioArtificial Liver (BAL, see?) system that is being developed. And, Ali? It’s an air-liquid device.
The engineered liver cells (human primary hepatocytes, HepLPC’s- the “engineering” was via FOXA3, a hepatocyte nuclear factor (enabling complete hepatic function)- were cultured on microporous scaffolding in the bioreactor. And, as we said, the bioreactor alternates between air and liquid exposures.
Why?
To treat acute liver failure- resulting from drug overdose, surgery complications, alcoholism. Because there is a shortage of donor organs as well as due to incompatibilities between donor and recipient, we know that 80% of those with liver failure die.
Enter Ali-BAL.
The liver cells in the bioreactor system (extracorporeal, not inserted into the body), along with plasma filters, treat the pumped blood, detoxifying it, and then returns the blood to the body. (The bioreactor incorporates liver cells cultured on scaffolding.) Think of a dialysis system- but with liver cells in a bioreactor, instead of the dialyzer.
The researchers poisoned a dozen pigs, which caused their livers to fail. Six of the pigs were then connected to Ali-BAL units, with which they underwent treatment for three hours. Albumin production in the livers was noted, and the blood ammonia levels, as well as biochemical and coagulation indices, were reduced by the Ali-BAL treatment. This reduced liver inflammation- plus the pig livers actually had a chance to regenerate- at least for 5 of the 6 pigs. The six untreated pigs didn’t fare as well- only 1 survived.
This work, done in Shanghai, China, involved a fairly large team. Drs. Wei-Jian Li, Bo Zhai, Weif-Feng Yu, He-Xin Yan, Zhen-Yu Wang, Hong-Shu Jing, Yao-Ping Shi, Tian-Jie Yuan, Xiao Shi, Cai-Yang Chen, Gong-Bo Fu, Wei-Jian Huang (all of Renji Hospital-Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai); Xue-Jing Zhu, Min Zeng, Hong-Dan Zhang, Hong-Ping Wu (all employed by Shanghai Celliver Biotechnology Co Ltd); Zheng-Qian Bian (Xuzhou University School of Medicine, Xuzhou); and Qian Liu (Second Military Medical University, Shanghai) were the researchers. Those in red were the leads of the multi-unit team.
The team presented their results in Science Translational Medicine. (An extracorporeal bioartificial liver embedded with 3D-layered human liver progenitor-like cells relieves acute liver failure in pigs.)
This is a great advancement, so many suffer from liver failure. So glad to have read this and I hope it will become generally accepted and available in the not so distant future!
I’m with you, Cindy Rae!
Wow, Roy. Thank you for the information. We just had a friend die this spring from liver-failure (amongst other issues), and this brought liver failure directly into your life… I found most interesting that some of the pigs even had regeneration of their livers… I don’t know enough about this topic to truly comment with added relevance, but I appreciate you adding to my knowledge.
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One of the amazing things about livers is their ability to regenerate, Lori. Yes, that did make this concept so interesting.
The animal testing makes me cringe! But I understand the motive, and the severity of the situation for those with liver failure.
Would you rather have the initial tests on humans, Jeanine?
I know that’s not a serious question, Roy! I can be glad for what they discovered and still not be happy about animal testing.
It’s a VERY serious question. You made a statement that poses health issues. What is your suggestion to change it, other than my response? If there are no viable alternatives, then…(Notice this is about life critical needs, not perfumes or cosmetics.)
Sounds like good science .But with the state of things,anything coming out of China needs triple vetting !
I agree- more about that today, too!
WOW this is great! Of course it would be better if the drinkers could stop drinking before it ruins their liver.
It’s not necessarily the drinkers- there are lots of reasons why livers fail, Martha.
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