47
Views
20
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Research Article

A two-step process for controlling the surface smoothness of polyelectrolyte-based microcapsules

Pages 479-490 | Published online: 29 Sep 2008
 

Abstract

Biocompatibility is one of the crucial requirements to be fulfilled when designing devices for immunoisolation of transplanted cells. The quality of the capsule surface (smoothness/roughness) influences the nature of cell overgrowth on it by immunocytes, which eventually may lead to the transplant failure. A microcapsule has been developed based on the polyelectrolyte complexation of the polyanions sodium alginate and cellulose sulphate with the polycation poly(methylene-co-guanidine), which was successfully tested in rodent animal models. Recently, the principles for controlling the surface smoothness of these capsules has been identified. This paper reports on a two-step process used for production of stable capsules with improved surface properties. The methodology involves separating the process of drop shape recovery and precursor capsule formation from the process of membrane formation by applying a two-reactor design. The multi-loop reactors are connected in series, and the process separation is given by the different composition of cation solutions flowing in each reactor. This process enables one to prepare the microcapsule immunoisolation device, which can differ in the extent of surface roughness and, thus, is suitable for studying the effect of surface morphology of the immunoisolation device on cell overgrowth. The effect of this process on the capsule permeability has also been evaluated.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.