Poly(vinyl alcohol)-Heparin Biosynthetic Hydrogel Microspheres for Cell Encapsulation

摘要

Submerged electrospray was able to produce microspheres, and the biologic heparin was successfully covalently incorporated. These biosynthetic microspheres retained good mechanical properties and supported cells in culture for 28 days. Heparin improved long term cell viability compared to PVA alone, with the benefits possibly due to heparin being able to bind and present growth factors to cells.This system could be used for many cell encapsulation applications to improve outcomes by prolonging cell survival and function. Future work will utilize this system to encapsulate beta cells for the purpose of diabetes treatment and study the effect of heparin on viability and glucose stimulated insulin secretion.