Feasibility Study and Direct Extraction of Endogenous Free Metallic Cations Combining Hemodialysis and Chelating Polymer

In this article, we report the conception and the use of dialysis based medical device for extraction of metals. The medical device is obtained by addition in the dialysate of a functionnalized chitosan that can chelate endogenous metals like iron or copper. The water soluble functionnalized chitosan is obtained after controlled reacetylation and addition of DOTAGA. Due to the high mass of chitosan, the polymer cannot cross through the membrane and the metals are trapped in the dialysate during hemodialysis. Copper captation has been evaluated in vitro using an hemodialysis protocol. Feasibility study has been performed on healthy sheep showing no acute toxicity of the whole procedure and first insights of metallic extraction even on healthy animals.