Polymer Membranes in Medicine and Pharmaceutics

This review covers the main problems and basic principles of the use of various membranes in medicine and pharmacy. Developments in the field of sterilizing, bacteriostatic and bactericidal membranes and membranes for pyrogen-free water preparing are considered. An analysis of the scientific literature in this research area are identified. The main ways of development of this area, as well as an analysis of properties of membranes from different manufacturers for use in the medical and pharmaceutical industries are given. Their advantages and disadvantages are considered. It is shown that the main criterion for sterilizing membranes is the pore size, which should be no less than 0.1 microns. The most commonly used materials for sterilizing membranes are PTFE, polyamide and polysulfone. Review of methods for bacteriostatic and bactericidal membranes showed that there are different prospective modification methods of widely used membranes. Examples of some membranes modifications with inorganic and organic substances are considered. It is shown that the most effective modifying agents are chitosan and silver compounds. The mechanism of action of the ions and silver nanoparticles on bacterial cells is shown. A comparison of the effectiveness of distillation and membrane filtration processes for the preparation of water for injection is given. The ultra- and nanofiltration membranes used for pyrogen-free water preparing are described. New data about the properties of charged membranes are given. It is shown that the use of positively charged membranes for pyrogen-free water preparing is perspective, because it works by sieve and adsorption mechanism.