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Journal of Biomaterials Applications
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Production and Characterization of Alginate Microcapsules Produced by a Vibrational Encapsulation Device

S. Mazzitelli

Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmaceutics University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy

A. Tosi

Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmaceutics University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy

C. Balestra

Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmaceutics University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy

C. Nastruzzi

Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmaceutics University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy, nas{at}unipg.it or nas{at}biomaterials.it

G. Luca

Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Internal Medicine and Endocrine and Metabolic Sciences, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy

F. Mancuso

Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Internal Medicine and Endocrine and Metabolic Sciences, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy

R. Calafiore

Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Internal Medicine and Endocrine and Metabolic Sciences, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy

M. Calvitti

Department of Experimental Medicine and Biochemical Sciences, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy

The optimization, through a Design of Experiments (DoE) approach, of a microencapsulation procedure for isolated neonatal porcine islets (NPI) is described. The applied method is based on the generation of monodisperse droplets by a vibrational nozzle. An alginate/polyornithine encapsulation procedure, developed and validated in our laboratory for almost a decade, was used to embody pancreatic islets. We analyzed different experimental parameters including frequency of vibration, amplitude of vibration, polymer pumping rate, and distance between the nozzle and the gelling bath. We produced calcium—alginate gel microbeads with excellent morphological characteristics as well as a very narrow size distribution. The automatically produced microcapsules did not alter morphology, viability and functional properties of the enveloped NPI. The optimization of this automatic procedure may provide a novel approach to obtain a large number of batches possibly suitable for large scale production of immunoisolated NPI for in vivo cell transplantation procedures in humans.

Key Words: automatic encapsulator • design of experiment • alginate • neonatal porcine islets • biocompatibility.

This version was published on September 1, 2008

Journal of Biomaterials Applications, Vol. 23, No. 2, 123-145 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0885328207084958
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