Artificial heart is an effective device in solving insufficient native heart supply for heart transplant, and the research and application of novel actuators play an important role in the development of artificial heart. In this paper, artificial muscle is introduced as the actuators of direct cardiac compression assist, and some of its parameters are compared with those of native heart muscle. The open problems are also discussed.
Artificial Organs ; Assisted Circulation ; instrumentation ; Biocompatible Materials ; Equipment Design ; Heart-Assist Devices ; Humans ; Muscles

This article introduces the working principle and the structural design of an initiative lung simulator based on plunger. The lung simulator is intended to test the monitor parameter and trigger function of the ventilator. Lung simulator can ventilate initiatively by adjusting the parameters such as tidal volume(VT). frequency and inspiration time.
Artificial Organs ; Equipment Design ; Lung

In this article, we introduce the principle, describe the utilization and discuss the future development of three-dimensional printing technology for manufacturing artificial organs.
Artificial Organs ; Humans ; Printing, Three-Dimensional

BACKGROUND: Cellular remnants in the bioprosthetic heart valve are known to be related to a host's immunologic response and they can form the nidus for calcification. The extracellular matrix of the decellularized valve tissue can also be used as a biological scaffold for cell attachment, endothelialization and tissue reconstitution. Thus, decellularization is the most important part in making a bioprosthetic valve and biological scaffold. Many protocols and agents have been suggested for decellularization, yet there have been few reports about the effect of a treatment with hypotonic solution prior to chemical or enzymatic treatment. This study investigated the effect of a treatment with hypotonic solution and the appropriate environments such as temperature, the treatment duration and the concentration of sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) for achieving proper decellularization. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Porcine aortic valves were decellularized with sodium dodecylsulfate at various concentrations (0.25%, 0.5%), time durations (6, 12, 24 hours) and temperatures (4degrees C, 20degrees C)(Group B). Same the number of porcine aortic valves (group A) was treated with hypotonic solution prior to SDS treatment at the same conditions. The duration of exposure to the hypotonic solution was 4, 7 and 14 hours and the temperature was 4degrees C and 20degrees C, respectively. The degree of decellularization was analyzed by performing hematoxylin and eosin staining. RESULT: There were no differences in the degree of decellularization between the two concentrations (0.25% 0.5%) of SDS. Twenty four hours treatment with SDS revealed the best decellularization effect for both groups A and B at the temperature of 4degrees C, but there was no differences between the groups at 20degrees C. Treatment with hypotonic solution (group A) showed a better decellularization effect at all the matched conditions. Fourteen hours treatment at 4degrees C with hypotonic solution prior to SDS treatment revealed the best decellularization effect. The treatment with hypotonic solution at 20degrees C revealed a good decellularization effect, but this showed significant extracellular matrix destruction. CONCLUSION: The exposure of porcine heart valves to hypotonic solution prior to SDS treatment is highly effective for achieving decellularization. Osmotic treatment with hypotonic solution should be considered for achieving decellularization of porcine aortic valves. Further study should be carried out to see whether the treatment with hypotonic solution could reduce the exposure duration and concentration of chemical detergents, and also to evaluate how the structure of the extracellular matrix of the porcine valve is affected by the exposure to hypotonic solution.
Aortic Valve ; Artificial Organs ; Bioengineering ; Detergents ; Eosine Yellowish-(YS) ; Extracellular Matrix ; Heart Valves ; Hematoxylin ; Sodium ; Transplantation, Heterologous

OBJECTIVETo investigate the feasibility of tracheal reconstruction with a prosthesis made of memory alloy coated with collagen sponge in mongrel dogs.

METHODThe basic skeleton of the prosthesis was knitted with Ni-Ti memory alloy wires. The tubular mesh was sealed with polyurethane membrane and then inner and external walls of the lumen were coated with collagen sponge. Cervical trachea segmental reconstruction was performed in 8 mongrel dogs with these prostheses. The efficacy of the implanted prostheses were periodically evaluated after operation using x-ray, tracheoscopy and specimen microscope examinations.

RESULTSOne dog died of prosthesis dislocation 10 days after operation, another was killed 45 days later because of anastomotic stenosis. 6 dogs survived more than 90 days and the longest one lived for 150 days. Its implanted prosthesis was completely incorporated with the recipient tissue, where re-epithelialization occluded on anastomotic sites. The tracheal lumen was patent.

CONCLUSIONThis memory alloy tracheal prosthesis has been proved useful for reconstruction of large, circumferential tracheal defects, although its long-term safety and efficiency need to be confirmed.

OBJECTIVETo distinguish the ginseng and American ginseng pieces accurately and rapidly by electronic nose technology and principal component analysis (PCA) method.

METHODThe optimum conditions of electronic nose for ginseng and American ginseng pieces, such as sample size and volume, headspace volume, incubation time and temperature were determined by the orthogonal test, the data were processed by the normalization method and the preprocessed data were analyzed PCA.

RESULTThe detection methods of ginseng and American ginseng pieces was established by electronic nose, and the odor fingerprint figures of ginseng and American ginseng pieces were obtained, and ginseng and American ginseng pieces were distinguished by PCA recognition pattern.

CONCLUSIONA new accurate and rapid method to distinguish ginseng and American ginseng pieces was established by electronic nose detection.

The artificial lung is a technical device for providing life support; it will be put in use when the natural lungs are failing and are not able to maintain sufficient oxygenation of the body's organ systems. From the viewpoint of long-term development, the artificial lung should be permanently implanted in the body, so that it will substitute for the human pulmonary function partially or completely. In this paper, four artificial lung technologies were expounded with reference to the development and research process of artificial lung. They were extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, intravascular artificial lung, implantable artificial lung, and pumpless extracorporeal lung assist. In this paper were described the structure of the four kinds of artificial lung, the working principle, and their advantages, disadvantages and indications. The prospect of artificial lung was evaluated in the light of the data from the existing animal experiments and from the clinical experience of the centers.
Animals ; Artificial Organs ; trends ; Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation ; instrumentation ; trends ; Humans ; Lung ; Oxygenators, Membrane ; trends

In this paper, we advance a new treating method for rectectomy postoperative anus incontinence, which is called "artificial sphincter system with biofeedback-function". The system simulates the function of human's sphincter and has entered into a stage of simulation experiments on animals.
Anal Canal ; Animals ; Artificial Organs ; Biofeedback, Psychology ; Fecal Incontinence ; Humans ; Prosthesis Design ; Software Design

This paper presents the properties of Pneumatic artificial muscles and its application in medical robots. The linear model construction and minimum predictive error control algorithm for artificial muscles are discussed here too. This paper provides the experimental results of linear adaptive control, which show the control algorithm has certain applicable value.
Algorithms ; Artificial Organs ; Equipment Design ; Linear Models ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Robotics ; instrumentation ; methods

We developed and designed a new type of artificial trachea. The basic structure of the artificial trachea was polytetrafluoroethylene vascular prosthesis linked with titanium rings on both sides. Dualmesh was sutured on titanium rings. This experimentation follows the replacement of trachea in dogs with a combined artificial trachea to investigate the feasibility of this type of prosthesis. Sixteen dogs were implanted with the combined artificial trachea after resection of 5 cm of cervical trachea. The 5 cm-long trachea of dogs on the necks were resected and the reconstruction of the defect of the trachea was performed with trachea prosthesis. According to the method of trachea reconstruction, the models were divided into 2 groups, artificial trachea implantation group (the control group, n = 8) and group of artificial trachea implantation with growth factor (the experimental group, n = 8). Then computer tomography scan (CT), bronchoscope and pathologic examination were conducted periodically to observe the healing state of the hybrid artificial trachea. None of the dogs died during operation of cervical segmental trachea construction. But four dogs in the control group died of apnea in succession because artificial trachea was displaced and the lumen was obstructed, while 2 dogs died in the experimental group. In the first month there was granulation around anastomosis with slight stenosis. The rest of dogs were well alive until they were sacrificed 14 months later. The mean survival time of the experimental group was longer than that of the control group. The rate of infection, anastomotic dehiscence, severe stenosis and accidental death in the experimental group were lower than the control group (P < 0.05). Artificial trachea was encapsulated by fibrous tissue and no mucous membrane was seen in the lumen of the artificial trachea. The artificial trachea can be used to reconstruction of the defect of the trachea with long-term survival of the animals. The unique design of artificial trachea reduces stenosis around anastomosis effectively but infections and split or displacement of the artificial trachea are still major problems affecting long-term survival of the animals. Application of growth factors to a certain extent promotes tissue healing by changing the local environment.
Animals ; Artificial Organs ; Dogs ; Prostheses and Implants ; Prosthesis Design ; Prosthesis Implantation ; Reconstructive Surgical Procedures ; Titanium ; Trachea ; surgery