Flexible control of cellular encapsulation, permeability, and release in a droplet-templated bifunctional copolymer scaffold

Designing cell-compatible, bio-degradable, and stimuli-responsive hydrogels is very important for biomedical applications in cellular delivery and micro-scale tissue engineering. Here, we report achieving flexible control of cellular microencapsulation, permeability, and release by rationally design...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biomicrofluidics 2016-11, Vol.10 (6), p.064115-064115
Main Authors: Chen, Qiushui, Chen, Dong, Wu, Jing, Lin, Jin-Ming
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alginates
Biodegradability
Biomedical engineering
Biomedical materials
Block copolymers
Business competition
Calcium ions
Degradation
Droplets
Encapsulation
Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acids
Gelation
High temperature
Hydrogels
Isopropylacrylamide
Microencapsulation
Microgels
Microparticles
Permeability
Regular
Scaffolds
Stability
Tissue engineering
Viability
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Summary:Designing cell-compatible, bio-degradable, and stimuli-responsive hydrogels is very important for biomedical applications in cellular delivery and micro-scale tissue engineering. Here, we report achieving flexible control of cellular microencapsulation, permeability, and release by rationally designing a diblock copolymer, alginate-conjugated poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (Alg-co-PNiPAM). We use the microfluidic technique to fabricate the bifunctional copolymers into thousands of mono-disperse droplet-templated hydrogel microparticles for controlled encapsulation and triggered release of mammalian cells. In particular, the grafting PNiPAM groups in the synthetic cell-laden microgels produce lots of nano-aggregates into hydrogel networks at elevated temperature, thereafter enhancing the permeability of microparticle scaffolds. Importantly, the hydrogel scaffolds are readily fabricated via on-chip quick gelation by triggered release of Ca2+ from the Ca-EDTA complex; it is also quite exciting that very mild release of microencapsulated cells is achieved via controlled degradation of hydrogel scaffolds through a simple strategy of competitive affinity of Ca2+ from the Ca-Alginate complex. This finding suggests that we are able to control cellular encapsulation and release through ion-induced gelation and degradation of the hydrogel scaffolds. Subsequently, we demonstrate a high viability of microencapsulated cells in the microgel scaffolds.
ISSN:1932-1058
1932-1058
DOI:10.1063/1.4972107