Simulation of blood oxygenation in capillary membrane oxygenators using modified sulfite solution

Blood oxygenation is the main performance characteristic of capillary membrane oxygenators (CMOs). Handling of natural blood in in vitro investigations of CMOs is quite complex and time-consuming. Since the conventional blood analog fluids (e.g. water/glycerol) lack a substance with an affinity to capture oxygen comparable to hemoglobin's affinity, in this study a novel approach using modified sulfite solution is proposed to address this challenge. The solution comprises sodium sulfite as a component, simulating the role of hemoglobin in blood oxygenation. This approach is validated by OTR (oxygen transfer rate) measured using native porcine blood, in two types of commercially available CMOs. Consequently, the number of complicated natural blood investigations in the evolution procedure of newly developed oxygenators would considerably decrease. Moreover, the reassessing of failed devices, in clinics, would be performed more precisely using a modified sulfite solution than simple water/glycerol testing.