Hemodialysis (HD) is typically scheduled as three 4-hour sessions per week so that adequate dialysis doses can be delivered to the patient. Despite the great progress, many complications related to HD therapy still exist. MAHD is a promising method for overcoming many of these complications. Ideally, MAHD selectively targets important toxins such as β2-microglobulin and homocysteine to prevent the onset of cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, the increased rate of toxin removal will ultimately allow minimization of the duration of each MAHD session, thus improving the preservation of residual renal function and the overall patient’s comfort.
The in vitro results, published in Nanotechnology, were realized in the laboratory by means of Fe3O4 FNs and bovine serum albumin (BSA) for the construction of Fe3O4-BSA Cs. These Cs were evaluated on the removal of two important toxins, namely homocysteine and p-cresol. An array of permanent magnets, placed along the circulation line, was employed as a simple MD. The results prove the in vitro applicability of MAHD. While our results were based on Fe3O4-BSA Cs, future work should employ antibodies against specific toxins, thus guaranteeing the desired toxin selectivity of the novel Fe3O4-Abs Cs.
This interdisciplinary research has been commenced owing to the collaboration of the Institutes of Materials Science (IMS), Biology (IB) and Radioisotopes-Radiodiagnostic Products (IRRP) all hosted at the National Center for Scientific Research (NCSR) Demokritos, Athens, Greece. D Stamopoulos (IMS), the founder of MAHD, performed the in vitro experiments in close collaboration with D Benaki (IB) and P Bouziotis (IRRP).
Currently, various hemodialysis centers and the departments of nephrology/clinical biochemistry hosted at the general hospital “G Gennimatas” are joining the NCSR Demokritos in this large-scale project. Comparative MAHD and conventional HD mock-dialysis experiments on donated blood should follow in the near future. These in vitro mock-dialysis experiments will eventually lead to animal models for the in vivo investigation of MAHD in comparison to conventional HD.