文档介绍：Cell Encapsulation for Tissue Engineering
Alok Vij
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science
Northwestern University
Jeffrey S. Fisher
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Henry J. Samueli School of Engineering
University of California, Irvine
Dr. Abraham P. Lee
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering
Henry J. Samueli School of Engineering
University of California, Irvine
Abstract
The widespread adoption of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) based microfluidic devices is based on both the ease of using the material system as well as the enormous range of capabilities of microfluidic systems, including the creation of micro-total analysis systems (uTAS) or “lab-on-chip” systems, immunoprotective capsules for implants and cell encapsulation for biological assays or for the creation of tissue engineering scaffolds. A novel three-dimensional PDMS microfluidic device for the continuous encapsulation of cells in alginate droplets and the in-channel polymerization of the droplets is presented. Due to the reduction of volume, and the associated increase of the surface-area-to-volume ratio, of these microbeads pared to previously reported alginate beads [1], the microbeads offer improved mechanical stability as well as increased diffusion capabilities for the influx of nutrients to as well as the efflux of biologically active molecules and waste products from the encapsulated cells. Furthermore, the continuous creation process afforded by the microfluidic device allows for standardized droplet polymerization conditions for uniform mechanical properties of all beads in a lot as well as the ability bine ponents, such as growth factors, gene promoters or other cell types, with the cells downstream of the encapsulation region, an improvement over previously reported systems [2].
Key Terms
Alginate; Cell Encapsulation; Microfluidic devices; Micro-total analysis