[Control and realization of a novel bioartificial liver support system]

In this paper are introduced the design principle and its realization of a bioreactor's control for bioartificial liver support system. To meet the special requirement of circumstances in the culture and metabolism of hepatocytes, a control algorithm based on interactive control was designed and tested in the experiment to achieve sound performances. Some methods of control were used in the algorithm, such as PID (Proportional integral differential) algorithm, predictive control, and APC (Advanced process control). In the experiment, HepG2 were cultured continuously for 60 hours under 37 degrees C +/- 0.2 degrees C (temperature), 95% +/- 10% (dissolved oxygen) and 7.3 +/- 0.2 (pH value). The samples were collected at 24 h and 60 h. After morphological studies, it was found that the growth of the cells was obviously better than that of the control group. In conclusion, most of the parameters in the process of hepatocyte culture were exactly controlled. The growth of hepatocytes was quite well in the bioreactor. These data might contribute to further researches on bioartificial liver support system.