Can blood additives reduce hemolysis in an artificial heart?

Mock circulatory loops are useful in determining fluid mechanical properties of flow through artificial hearts and associated valves. In order to determine the effects that the Penn State artificial heart and associated valves have on blood, a 340 ml mock circulatory loop composed entirely of Biomer, stainless steel, and silicon was designed and assembled. Experiments were then completed to test the effects of known hemolysis-reducing agents on red blood cell damage caused by the artificial heart assembly. Neither Pluronic F-68 nor Dextran-40 produced any significant decrease in hemolysis under normal circulatory pressure and flow conditions, and caused an increase in hemolysis at high concentrations. Known drag-reducing agents, Polyox WSR-301 and Praestol 2273TR (a.k.a. Separan AP-273), caused large increases in hemolysis at very low concentrations. It can be concluded that none of these additives can be used as hemolysis-reducing drugs in artificial heart patients.<
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