Studies on sorbents for use in a hepatic support system.

A range of adsorbent and ion exchange materials has been tested for the sorption of fatty acids (hexanoic, octanoic and oleic), bilirubin and bromosulphthalein from human plasma. The importance of sorbent particle size for the kinetics of removal of strongly protein bound substances is shown. A system allowing the use of small particle size bioincompatible sorbents for detoxification is presented.