Water-soluble adsorbent β-cyclodextrin-grafted polyethyleneimine for removing bilirubin from plasma.

A water-soluble adsorbent was developed for removing bilirubin from the plasma of hyperbilirubinemia patient. The adsorbent was synthesized by grafting β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) to branched polyethyleneimine (PEI) matrix. The resulting β-CD-PEI polymer had an average molecular weight of 163.7 kD, and it contained 56.3 β-CD functional groups. In β-CD-PEI-spiked dialysis, 35.8% of plasma bilirubin was removed, which was higher than that removed by the same concentration of bovine serum albumin. β-CD-PEI also removed aromatic amino acids and bile acids. The results indicated that β-CD-PEI could be an effective adsorbent for blood purification application aiming at the removal of toxins.