TO High cholesterol is a problem experienced by most Indonesians. Until now there are still quite a lot of cholesterol sufferers. According to WHO, there were 133 million sufferers of high cholesterol in 2019.
People with high cholesterol can suffer from a variety of health problems, including heart disease and death. To recognize the dangers of this case, safe and effective alternative methods of treating high cholesterol need to be developed. One of them is membrane technology.
In general, membrane raw materials are selected from synthetic and natural polymer materials. Natural polymers are considered more prospective because they have abundant and renewable sources, are compatible with biosystems, and are cheaper.
Types of natural polymers that are useful as membrane materials include cellulose acetate and chitosan. One source of natural cellulose that has not been used optimally is waste of boiled corn (Zea mays L.). It is known that boiled corn has a cellulose content of around 41% (Rahma, 2019).
The membrane that can be used to isolate cholesterol in the blood is an ultrafiltration membrane with a membrane pore size of 30-100 nm.
This 30-100 nm membrane can properly separate cholesterol from the blood because it is bigger than cholesterol itself (19-22 nm) and smaller than the size of blood cells (6000-8000 nm), so only cholesterol passes through. The membranes are separated. .
When applying the hypercholesterolemia treatment with membranes, other modifications are needed so that the isolation process of cholesterol in the blood can be carried out, namely by modifying the injection system and the dialysate solution used.
The injection system is treated with heparin as an anticoagulant and NaHCO 3 as a cholesterol solvent. The dialysate solution is conditioned to have the same mineral content as normal blood so that only cholesterol molecules move towards the dialysate.
Through the 2020 Student Creativity Program, this literature review is designed to contribute ideas related to high cholesterol management, utilization of boiled corn waste, and become a reference source for further research.
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* From: Nurhidayah, Grantiera Hari Sejahtera, Wahyu Puji Pangestu, Muhammad Mujiburahman (Chemical Engineering Study Program, Faculty of Engineering, Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta)