Free Energy Reduction by Molecular Interface Crossing: Novel Mechanism for the Transport of Material Across the Interface of Nanoscale Droplets Induced by Competing Intermolecular Forces for Application in Perfluorocarbon Blood Substitutes |
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Authors: | Andrei P Sommer Wolfgang Röhlke Ralf P Franke |
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Institution: | (1) Department Biomaterials, Central Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Ulm, Albert-Einstein-Allee 47, D-89081 Ulm, Germany, DE |
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Abstract: | Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) are inert liquids which can dissolve – and release – approximately 50 times more oxygen than blood
plasma. Oxygen carriers based on PFCs are easy to produce, free of biological components, and more rigorously sterilizable
than blood. PFCs injected into the body are eliminated by expiration through the lungs. Before reaching the lungs, PFCs accumulate
in storage organs such as liver and spleen. In these organs nanoscale PFC droplets reduce their free energy by unifying to
microscopic drops, thus indirectly lowering the rate of their expiration.
The model of free energy reduction by molecular interface crossing (FERMIC), a novel emulsion breaking mechanism derived from
first principles as presented here, leads to a better understanding of the structure formation processes relevant in perfluorocarbons
(PFCs) in vivo.
Received: 11 November 1998 / Accepted in revised form: 18 February 1999 |
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