Perm selective asymmetric hollow fibre membrane for the separation of toxic mediators from blood

1. A permselective asymmetric hollow fibre membrane for the separation of toxic mediators from blood, comprised of at least one hydrophobic polymer and at least one hydrophilic polymer, wherein said hydrophobic polymer is selected from the group consisting of polyarylethersulfone (PAES), polypropylene (PP), polysulfone (PSU), polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), polycarbonate (PC), polyacrylonitrile (PAN), polyamide (PA), and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), and wherein said membrane comprises a separation layer and the separation layer is the inner most layer of the hollow fibre membrane, and wherein said membrane allows passage of molecules having a molecular weight of 50,000 Daltons, with a sieving coefficient of about 0.7 in the presence of whole blood, has a sieving coefficient for IL-6 in the presence of whole blood of 0.9-1.0, and has a molecular weight exclusion limit of about 200,000 Daltons in water;

wherein the membrane allows the retention of a portion of albumin in the presence of whole blood.

2. A membrane according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one hydrophilic polymer and said at least one hydrophobic polymer are present in the membrane as domains on the surface,

wherein the size of the hydrophilic domains are in the range of 20-50 nm.

3. A membrane according to claim 1 wherein said at least one hydrophobic polymer is present in an amount of 50-80 weight %, based on the weight of the membrane.

4. A membrane according to claim 1 wherein said at least one hydrophilic polymer is present in an amount of 20-50 weight %, based on the weight of the membrane.

5. A membrane according to claim 1 , wherein said membrane allows passage of molecules having a molecular weight of 50,000 Daltons, with a sieving coefficient of 0.7 in the presence of whole blood.

6. A membrane according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one hydrophilic polymer is chosen from the group consisting of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), polyethyleneglycol (PEG), polyvinylalcohol (PVA), and copolymer of polypropyleneoxide and polyethyleneoxide (PPO-PEO).

7. A membrane according to claim 1 , wherein said membrane has at least a 3-layer asymmetric structure.

8. A membrane according to claim 1 , wherein the separation layer has a thickness of <0.5 um.

9. A membrane according to claim 1 , wherein the separation layer contains pore channels.

10. A membrane according to claim 1 , wherein the pore size in the separation layer is 15-60 nm.

11. A membrane according to claim 1 , wherein the sieving coefficient for albumin in the presence of whole blood is below 0.05.

12. A permselective membrane, comprised of at least one hydrophobic polymer and at least one hydrophilic polymer, wherein said membrane is provided with pores on the outer surface, wherein the average diameter of said pores is in the range of 0.5-3 μm and the number of said pores is in the range of 20,000 to 100,000 pores/mm 2 , further wherein the structure of said membrane:

a) allows passage of molecules having a molecular weight of up to 45,000 Daltons, with a sieving coefficient of 0.1-1.0 in the presence of whole blood;

b) has a sieving coefficient for IL-6 of 0.9-1.0 in the presence of whole blood;

c) has a molecular weight exclusion limit of about 200,000 Daltons in water.

13. A membrane according to claim 12 , wherein said membrane has a four-layer asymmetric structure.

14. A membrane according to claim 10 , wherein the pore size in the separation layer is 20-40 nm.

15. A permselective asymmetric hollow fibre membrane for the separation of toxic mediators from blood, comprised of at least one hydrophobic polymer and at least one hydrophilic polymer, wherein said membrane comprises a separation layer and the separation layer is the inner most layer of the hollow fibre membrane, and wherein said membrane allows passage of molecules having a molecular weight of 50,000 Daltons, with a sieving coefficient of 0.65 to 0.75 in the presence of whole blood, and has a molecular weight cut off of about 60,000 Daltons in the presence of whole blood;

wherein the membrane allows the retention of a portion of albumin in the presence of whole blood.

16. A membrane according to claim 15 , wherein said at least one hydrophobic polymer is chosen from the group consisting of polyarylethersulfone (PAES), polypropylene (PP), polysulfone (PSU), polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), polycarbonate (PC), polyacrylonitrile (PAN), polyamide (PA), and polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE).

17. A membrane according to claim 15 , wherein said at least one hydrophilic polymer is chosen from the group consisting of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), polyethyleneglycol (PEG), polyvinylalcohol (PVA), and copolymer of polypropyleneoxide and polyethyleneoxide (PPO-PEO).