IMPLANTABLE HYDROGEL MICROFIBER ENCAPSULATING PANCREATIC BETA-CELLS FOR DIABETES TREATMENT

摘要

This paper describes implantable hydrogel microfibers encapsulating living pancreatic beta-cells for diabetes treatment. The structure of microfiber has a potential not only to implant but also to remove the pancreatic beta-cells encapsulated in the microfiber, indicating that our microfiber can be a cartridge-type device to regulate blood glucose. We successfully validated the potency of our microfibers by implanting them into chemically induced diabetic mice and normalizing their blood glucose. We believe that our method to encapsulate pancreatic beta-cells in the microfibers could be useful for cell-based medicine targeted to diabetes mellitus.