Dietary intake of probiotic bacteria has been shown to impart health effects, however, maintaining viable cells in foods and during passage of the adverse conditions in the upper gastro-intestinal tract is often a problem. The objective of this research was to develop and characterize novel food-grade phase-separated gelatin-maltodextrin (G-MD) microspheres, where the gelatin was cross-linked w...

In this study, a new modified optical chemical sensor based on swellable polymer microspheres is developed using a 5% copolymer of polyvinylpyridine-polyvinyl-benzyl chloride microspheres functionalized as the corresponding dithiocarbamate. This sensor demonstrated significant enhancements in sensitivity, dynamic range and response time. These improvements are related to the presence of pyridin...

Bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) serves an important role in the development of bone and cartilage. However, administration of BMP-2 protein alone by intravenous delivery is not very effective. Sustained delivery of stabilized BMP-2 by carriers has been proven necessary to improve the osteogenesis effect of BMP-2. The present study constructed a novel drug delivery system using dextran sulf...

FluoSpheres and TransFluoSpheres polystyrene microspheres 1 satisfy several prerequisites of ideal long-term biological tracers. Because the dyes in our microspheres are incorporated throughout the microsphere rather than just on its surface, the fluorescence output per microsphere is significantly greater than that obtained from protein or dextran conjugates (Table 6.6) and is relatively immun...

Philasterides dicentrarchi is a protozoan ciliate which causes significant economic losses in fish aquaculture. This study investigated the effects of chitosan microspheres cross linked with glutaraldehyde and containing beta-cyclodextrin (βCD) on the survival of this parasite in 7 d cultures. When used alone in assays, neither chitosan nor βCD showed any activity, whereas free glutaraldehyde w...

This study examines differences between chemisorbed and physisorbed biomolecules on bacterial adhesion to both hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces that are biologically nonspecific. Bacteria-sized latex microspheres were used as a simplified model in order to study these factors that affect microbial adhesion. Two biomolecules (protein A, poly-D-lysine) were covalently bound to microspheres in...

The influence of molecular configuration on the filtration of macromolecules across glomerular capillary walls was examined by comparing fractional clearances of two uncharged polysaccharides of distinctly different molecular configuration in the Munich-Wistar rat. The macromolecules employed were dextran, a slightly branched polymer of glucopyranose, and ficoll, a highly cross-linked copolymer...

Background: Radioactive yttrium glass microspheres are used for liver cancer treatment. These yttrium aluminum silicate microspheres are synthesized from yttrium, aluminum and silicone oxides by melting. There are two known processes used to transform irregular shaped glass particles into microspheres, these ‘spheroidization by flame’ and ‘spheroidization by gravitational fall...

In this paper, drug–loaded chitosan microspheres were prepared by spray drying technique, using glutaraldehyde as cross–linking agent and salicylic acid as model drug. Effects of formulation and process parameters on the morphology of chitosan microspheres were investigated. The drug loading and encapsulation efficiency were determined. In vitro release of the drug into phosphate buffer at 37 °...