Membrane reactors in bioartificial organs

This chapter provides an overview of the application of membrane bioreactor technology to engineer bioartificial organs that can be used as extracorporeal devices providing temporary support for patients with organ failure waiting for transplantation or as implantable systems. These devices can also offer an in vitro platform for drug toxicity testing and studies. After a brief introduction on the critical issues in the design of a membrane bioreactor to be used as a bioartificial organ, a summary of the transport phenomena within the bioreactor by using computational modeling is reported, since they have to be analyzed to optimize the overall operational conditions. Then, special attention is given to the membrane bioreactor devices used as bioartificial liver, bioartificial pancreas, and a biomimetic model of the nervous system. The study also discusses the current status of their development in vitro and in vivo studies, as well as in clinical trials performed within the last decades.