Characteristics of plasma filtration by microporous regenerated cellulose hollow fiber as virus-removal membrane.

The Bemberg Microporous Membrane (BMM) is composed of microporous regenerated cellulose hollow fiber and has been developed for virus removal from plasma. When fresh plasma was appiled on the BMM-30 (average pore size 30nm), 93 percent of albumin was passed through. However, more than 50 percent of IgM and Factor VIII were trapped in the hollow fiber. On the other hand with the BMM-50 filtration, 70 percent of IgM and Factor VIII were recovered in the filtrate. The double filtration by BMM-50 modules was carried out for HB virus positive fresh frozen plasma. Trapping of plasma components occurred only at the first BMM filtration and there was virtually no trapping at the second BMM filtration. HBV-DNA in Dane particles could be effectively removed by the double BMM-50 filtration. The residual amount of HBV-DNA in the first filtrate became under the detectable level after the second filtration. Thus, HBV-free plasma with sufficient amounts of plasma components could be obtained by the double filtration with the BMM-50 modules.