Hindered transport in composite hydrogels

The ultimate goal of this research was to develop a greater understanding of the structural components needed to describe transport within the glomerular basement membrane (GBM). Specifically, dimensionless diffusive and convective hindrance factors were investigated by measuring macromolecular permeability through synthetic, two-fiber, agarose-dextran hydrogels at very small or very high Pe, respectively. By comparing diffusion and convection in the synthetic hydrogel with corresponding measurements in isolated rat GBM, further insight regarding the structure responsible for transport through the GBM was gained. In order to compare diffusive hindrances in the synthetic gels with those in isolated GBM, partitioning in agarose-dextran hydrogels was also examined. Additionally, hindered transport theories were tested. In studying diffusion, partitioning, and convection, macromolecules with Stokes-Einstein radii (r) ranging from 2.7 to 5.9 nm were used. Gels with agarose volume fractions of 0.040 and 0.080 were studied with dextran volume fractions (assuming dextran acts as a fiber) ranging from 0 to 0.0076 and 0 to 0.011, respectively. For the diffusion studies, two globular proteins (ovalbumin and bovine serum albumin) and three narrow fractions of Ficoll, a spherical polysaccharide, were used. For the partitioning and convection studies, four narrow fractions of Ficoll were used. Diffusivities of fluorescein-labeled macromolecules were measured in dilute aqueous solution (D[infinity]), agarose gels (D[alpha]), and agarose-dextran composite gels (D) using fluorescence recovery after photobleaching.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Chemical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Kosto, Kimberly Bryan, 1977-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• William M. Deen.

• Chemical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/28358

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/28358