Orally ingested microencapsulated urease and an adsorbent, zirconium phosphate, to remove urea in kidney failure

Dialysis is the conventional treatment for chronic renal failure. It is cumbersome, expensive and time-consuming and thus alternate treatments have long been sought. A compact system consisting of haemoperfusion in series with ultrafiltration can nearly replace dialysis. A urea removal system is the only step required to complete this approach. The potential of combining a microencapsulated enzyme, urease, with an ammonium ion adsorbent, zirconium phosphate, to remove urea was examined in vitro. Urease converts urea to ammonium ions which are then adsorbed onto zirconium phosphate. This combination would be most effective in the intestinal tract. The capacity of zirconium phosphate is probably not enough to effect the removal of enough urea to completely replace dialysis in patients with no renal function. However, this system could potentially 1) delay the onset of dialysis therapy in patients who still have some renal function, either alone or in combination with haemoperfusion-ultrafiltration, or 2) reduce dialysis treatment times.