Improved survival of anchorage-dependent cells in core-shell hydrogel microcapsules via co-encapsulation with cell-friendly microspheres

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the effect of intracapsular environment on the survival of anchorage-dependent cells (ADCs) encapsulated in alginate microcapsules with three different core structures, i.e. liquid, semi-liquid and microsphere-encapsulating semi-liquid core, using NIH 3T3 fibroblasts as an ADC model. For the latter, we fabricated poly (ɛ-caprolactone) microspheres and co-encapsulated them with the cells, to establish cell-substrate interactions in the capsule. The fibroblast cells co-encapsulated with the microspheres exhibited higher survival and growth than those without. This study provides a “proof of concept” for employing microspheres as a cell-friendly surface to establish intracapsular cell-substrate interactions thus prolonging the survival of encapsulated therapeutic ADCs.

Keywords:

• Microspheres
• microcapsules
• core/shell structure
• co-encapsulation
• cell encapsulation

Acknowledgements

This work was carried out in part in the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory Central Facilities, University of Illinois.

Disclosure statement

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

Financial support for this work was partially provided by Trionix Research Laboratory, Inc. and Kim-Fund of the University of Illinois.