Polyvinyl alcohol as a viable membrane in artificial tissue design and development

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) membranes have long been used in many applications, most notably in a number of recent biomedical applications. These applications include the encapsulation of hybrid-type artificial organs, the controlled release of specific molecules, targeted drug delivery systems, enhanced wound dressings, and myriad other applications that utilize the semi-permeability and high biocompatibility of PVA. Nevertheless, prior to its designation for use as the biomaterial of choice in the design and development processes of artificial tissue fabrication applications, the exact nature of PVA’s physiological properties needs to be ascertained. In particular, the permeability and the diffusion coefficient are two important parameters that need to be analyzed. The experimental results can subsequently be used to determine the appropriate fabrication technique and design geometry for the design and development of the required tissue engineering applications. This study is based on the following presumption: if a researcher could place a semi-permeable membrane at the interface of two chambers (Chambers 1 and 2) that contain different concentrations of the same solution, then the diffusive parameters of the membrane can be measured simply by continuously measuring the changes in solute concentration in the chamber with the lower concentration. If the researcher waits until equilibrium between the two chambers is reached, both of the chambers would then have the same amount of solute (and, therefore, the same concentration of solute). A complete concentration profile will therefore provide the information that is needed to determine (using Fick’s Law) the desired parameters of the membrane. Nevertheless, this procedure is highly impractical, due to the long period of time that is required to record the observations and any related changes. On the other hand, by deriving a model of the underlying diffusion process using Fick’s Law, the researcher can predict the diffusive parameters based on the collected data over a relatively short period of time. The derivation of the model begins with constructing materials that are balanced on either side of the membrane. The material balance on the higherconcentration chamber (Chamber 1) can be expressed as V1 dc1 dt ~{PA(c1{c2), ð1Þ