After sending his boss away, Ding Mian couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
"It seems we still cannot be complacent. Implantable bioartificial kidneys are not as easy as I thought."
"Hey, what can I do? Human cells are so delicate. If the renal tubular cells are injured, they can be repaired, but their ability is limited, not to mention that they are so easily injured."
"What about ischemia? Hyperglycemia, proteinuria, and various toxins can all hurt it. It would be fine if it were a normal person, but that is a uremic patient. There is already proteinuria and hyperglycemia, as well as various kinds of toxins. These metabolic toxins, if added up, even if they are all healthy cells, they will be poisoned sooner or later."
He was mumbling, as if he was feeling sorry for himself.
Xue Shen comforted: "No matter what, the artificial kidney is still very successful. It can at least save the lives of patients with acute renal failure, and it can also greatly improve the lives of patients with uremia."
"If it can be used for automatic dialysis 24 hours a day, I think those patients with uremia wouldn't mind wearing one of these things on their bodies."
"This thing we came up with is still very useful."
Ding Mian breathed a deep sigh of relief, nodded and said: "Understood, the next step is animal clinical experiments."
Xue Shen chuckled: "Since it is an external artificial kidney, we can focus on the effect without considering the long-term results."
"You know, even if the same dialysis effect is achieved, the investigation time required to treat uremia is much longer than that of acute renal failure."
"If you really develop an implantable bioartificial kidney, the inspection time after implantation alone will take 3-6 months, let alone the long-term follow-up."
"Now that it is an in vitro bioartificial kidney, it naturally does not need to be inspected for such a long time. One month is more than enough."
“As long as acute renal failure is applied for clinical trials as an adapted disease and used as an emergency product, the clinical trial time can be greatly shortened and the goal of being put on the market as soon as possible can be achieved.”
"From another perspective, it might as well be a blessing in disguise."
He patted Ding Mian on the shoulder, with unconcealable joy on his face.
"Young man, work quickly and try to get it on the market this year."
Ding Mian suddenly became energetic: "That's right, first get the external bioartificial kidney, and then study the real implantable artificial kidney."
Xue Shen couldn't help but be speechless: "It seems you still don't give up."
Ding Mian waved his hand and said carelessly: "In technical matters, we always have to explore infinite possibilities. There is no such thing as giving up."
"It's just that this method doesn't work, so just try another direction."
"If artificial kidneys don't work, I can try cultivating kidney organoids in vitro and make a purely biological artificial kidney."
"If it doesn't work, I'll try 3D printing an artificial kidney again. There must be a way, we just have to see how far it can go."
"But if we consider an external artificial kidney, then we have to change its structure."
He made several gestures with his hands in the air and said.
"We have to make the two core components of the blood filter and bioreactor into modular structures. After a period of use, they can be taken out and replaced with a new one, just like changing the filter element of a water filter. In this way, the artificial kidney can Use it for a long time.”
Xue Shen's eyes suddenly lit up: "Wonderful, then we can make money selling accessories."
"This is a good method. In fact, many equipments do not make any money at all. They all make money by selling accessories. Moreover, this is a long-term business, which is much better than a one-time deal."
He was lost in thought: "In addition to the structural changes, we also need to add a timer alarm to remind customers to replace accessories when the set time is reached, so that they will not delay the replacement. In case of any physical problems, they can also shirk responsibility. .”
"Do you think it's better to sell these two accessories as a set or separately? I feel like each has its own benefits, so it's hard to make a decision."
"Forget it, let me go back and sort them out and see which one is the most profitable."
Ding Mian stared at him with wide eyes for several seconds before slowly uttering a sentence.
"You can't tell, you brat is so evil."
Xue Shen said with a look of resentment: "You called me Brother Xue just now, but now you call me brat."
Ding Mian suddenly covered his eyes, turned his head, and strode out the door, shouting as he walked.
"No way, you are so narrow-minded that I'm going to have an attack of trypophobia."
****
One morning half a month later, Ding Mian and Xue Shen drove to the Kunming Animal Experiment Center.
This time they redesigned a bioartificial kidney suitable for human use, intending to use it on pigs in the experimental center.
Because pigs are genetically similar to humans and have kidneys similar in size to humans, they stand out among many animals and even beat primates such as macaques to become the best experimental subjects.
Porcine heart valves have been used successfully in humans for decades and have become an important source of valves.
The blood thinner heparin is also extracted from pig intestines, pig skin is used in burn transplants, and pig corneas are used to restore vision to patients.
Even the earliest preparation of insulin came from pig pancreatic islet cells.
Later, humans even went a step further and tried to use gene-edited pig hearts to perform heart transplants on patients.
Although the experiment has not yet been successful, it at least proves that this is an application direction with great potential.
For humans, the whole body of a pig is a treasure.
As for the pigs in the laboratory, they are made into various animal disease models and make selfless sacrifices for human medical research.
Under the leadership of Dean Liu, the two people changed into surgical clothes and came to the operating room.
A medium-sized pig, already anesthetized, was lying peacefully on the operating table, waiting quietly.
Dean Liu led the two of them to the operating table and introduced them eloquently.
"As per your request, I have prepared six pig acute renal failure models in advance."
"Two of them will have external artificial kidneys, and the remaining four will be the control group."
"Each pig underwent cecal ligation and perforation and renal artery clamping 48 hours in advance, which successfully caused abdominal infection and began to develop multiple organ dysfunction 24 hours after surgery."
"Currently, serum creatinine and urea nitrogen have increased significantly, from 92umol/L and 4.16mmol/L to 986 and 48 respectively. Liver function, coagulation function and cardiac function have also experienced a certain degree of failure."
"Overall, the data on acute renal failure are very good."
"This animal model is simple to make and easy to replicate. It has significant organ function and morphological damage and better simulates the clinical characteristics of acute renal failure. Our experimental center is strong in producing animal models and is absolutely satisfactory."
Ding Mian interrupted Dean Liu's introduction: "You are very well prepared. Let's start the operation immediately."
As he spoke, he placed a refrigerator in his hand on the shelf next to the operating table.
With a click, the box opened, and two silver-white square metal boxes were revealed in front of everyone.
The medical staff next to the operating table all cast curious glances, but no one dared to speak.
Dean Liu glanced at the surgeon and said with a smile: "These two are the people in charge of Sanqing. They came at the right time. You can start the operation."
The surgeon in charge nodded and quickly disembowelled the pig.
Because it is an external artificial kidney, the operation is very simple. You only need to connect the arterial blood vessels and venous blood vessels through the artificial blood vessels to the upper and lower ends of the artificial kidney. The urine will flow into the urine bag through another outlet.
The entire operation was completed in less than 30 minutes.
After the doctor sutured the wound, the artificial kidney was fixed to the pig's lower back with gauze and medical tape.
The scene suddenly burst into warm applause.
Dean Liu's face turned red, his expression was very excited, and his hands clapped loudly.
Looking at it like this, if someone who didn't know the truth saw it, they might think that he had developed the artificial kidney.
"The operation was very successful! Thank you to the two leaders of Sanqing for bringing us this miraculous scene."
"Last year we had an artificial heart, and this year we have an artificial kidney. Sanqing is really making great strides in the field of artificial organs. It is worthy of being the light of my country's medical care."
"It is our great honor to cooperate with Sanqing to successfully implement the first animal experiment of artificial kidney."
Ding Mian smiled and said nothing.
Xue Shen, who was next to him, started chatting enthusiastically with Dean Liu.
After a few minutes, the two reluctantly ended their conversation.
Ding Mian coughed lightly and ordered: "That's it. I'll do the surgery on the other pig later."
"The remaining four pigs were divided into two control groups, one group of two. Group A received routine hemodialysis, while Group B was left alone and allowed to die normally."
"During these three groups of animal experiments, all data must be recorded in detail and available for us to review at any time."
"By the way, what I want to see is the effect of dialysis, so don't take medicine."
"That's about it. It'll be afternoon when the pig wakes up, so let's come back tomorrow."
"Don't worry, it's absolutely fine." Dean Liu nodded repeatedly and sent the two of them out of the operating room and all the way to the gate.
"We are following normal procedures. All data will be uploaded to Sanqing's system for you to call and view at any time."
In the afternoon of the next day, Ding and Xue came to the experimental center again and put on protective clothing.
In a spacious observation room, metal fences divide the room into several areas.
At the door, across the fence, they saw two energetic pigs.
The red-white pig swayed around, sticking its head into the trough from time to time, and slurping food inside.
Except for a metal box and a urine bag tied around his waist, he couldn't be seen to be any different from an ordinary experimental pig.
Ding Mian smiled with satisfaction: "It seems to be recovering well, but there are no signs of kidney failure."
Dean Liu said with a smile on his face: "That's why Sanqing's artificial kidney is so effective."
"Look, on the left and right are the other four pigs from the control group."
"We perform hemodialysis on the two pigs on the left every day. The pig on the right has suffered kidney failure for more than 72 hours, and its remaining survival time is estimated to be only 2 days."
Ding Mian walked forward and came to the fence on the left.
There were also two white pigs inside, but they were not in good spirits. Some were lying on the ground sickly. Even if there was food in the trough, they did not compete to eat.
Dean Liu explained: "Dialysis once a day is definitely not as effective as 24-hour dialysis with an artificial kidney."
"Although these two pigs are in low spirits, their lives are indeed not in danger."
After hearing this, Ding Mian couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.
What does it mean that it is really not life-threatening? The emotional dialysis is not very careless, it just keeps the pig in a half-dead state.
But he didn't say anything, nodded, and walked to the right side of the window again.
The two pigs here are in even worse condition. They are already lying on the ground dying, with only air coming in and no air coming out.
Ding Mian was about to speak when a strong smell of urine suddenly hit his face. He quickly covered his nose and took several steps back.
Dean Liu also covered his nose in embarrassment and said: "It's normal, normal, acute renal failure. He passed away within two days. It was like this before he died. The clinical symptoms are consistent."
Xue Shen stood behind the two of them, looking as if nothing had happened, and said with a smile: "These two pigs are not interesting, and they smell bad. It's better to go back and look at the pigs over there."
The three of them came to the pig at the door again.
Dean Liu took a report from the staff, scanned it briefly, and handed it to Ding Mian.
"This is the inspection report of six pigs. The data is very clear. The two pigs with artificial kidneys are in relatively healthy physical condition."
"The two pigs undergoing dialysis showed certain symptoms of kidney failure, but the toxins and metabolites in the body were able to be discharged, and there was no danger to their lives."
“In general, artificial kidneys have the advantages of better biocompatibility, higher toxin removal capacity, and less loss of nutrients. They do not require needle insertion, use blood pumps and anticoagulants, and have no risk of blood loss, infection, or kidney transplant failure. They also have no risk of blood loss, infection, or kidney transplant failure. It’s portable.”
Ding Mian carefully read the test report from beginning to end, word for word.
Suddenly, he yelled out.
Xue Shen immediately came closer: "What's wrong? What did you find?"
Ding Mian pointed to the test data of the artificial kidney and said: "Look, in the blood after dialysis of the artificial kidney, a variety of inorganic salts, electrolytes, glucose and other components have been detected, and the water content is also high, indicating that these components have not been lost. "
Then he pointed to the data of routine dialysis: "It is also the blood after dialysis. During routine dialysis, all these components are removed."
"In addition, before the artificial kidney was installed, the pigs had a certain degree of intra-abdominal infection, but after the artificial kidney dialysis, the pig's infection was well suppressed. You can see that these two pigs are in good spirits and have no fever. Their white blood cells are also It didn’t rise very high.”
He frowned and thought: "There must be some ingredient that plays a role in resisting infection."
Dean Liu also came over, looked at the report, and said in surprise: "It's true, among other things, it actually has the effect of preventing infection. It's really surprising."
Ding Mian slapped his thigh suddenly and said with a joyful face: "I know, it must be the renal tubular epithelial cells I cultured that produced natural immune system molecules, also known as cytokines, which are effective in resisting infection. Very important role.”
At this time, even Xue Shen looked surprised and blurted out: "Doesn't that mean that the bioartificial kidney really plays the role of a kidney?"
Ding Mian instantly beamed with joy: "Yes, the effect is great."
"It seems like we really made it this time."
"I can't wait to see the results of the bioartificial kidney in patients."
