This article reports the investigation of mechanical properties of alginate-chitosan microcapsules and the relation to protein delivery. For microscale compression testing, a system based on a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) capacitive force sensor was developed. The bulk microfabricated capacitive force sensors are capable of resolving forces up to 110 microN with a resolution of 33.2 nN...

Alginate-based microencapsulation of live cells may offer the opportunity to treat chronic and degenerative disorders. So far, a thorough assessment of physical-chemical behavior of alginate-based microbeads remains cloudy. A disputed issue is which divalent cation to choose for a high performing alginate gelling process. Having selected, in our system, high mannuronic (M) enriched alginates, w...

The main goal of this research was to compare the in vitro release rates of nano- and microcapsules of Silybum marianum extract (SME) in animal simulated gastric and intestinal medium conditions. The extract was encapsulated within sodium alginate carriers using emulsification/internal gelation method. Particle size, zeta potential, polydispersity index (PDI) and morphology of...

an oral suspension could a suitable dosage form for the geriatric patients. the calcium alginate coated ion exchange resinate of propranolol hydrochloride were prepared using amberlite ir-120 by solvent evaporation. microcapsules of propranolol hydrochloride resinate were prepared by solvent evaporation technique,the suspensions were prepared by using deionised water as the vehicle. methyl cell...

Development of the technique for constructing an internal perfusable vascular network is a challenging issue in fabrication of dense three-dimensional tissues in vitro. Here, we report a method for realizing it. We assembled small tissue (about 200 μm in diameter)-enclosing hydrogel microcapsules and a single hydrogel fiber, both covered with human vascular endothelial cells in a collagen gel. ...

Important advances in the transplantation of islets of Langerhans have recently been achieved using alginate-based microcapsules (De Vos 2006). These microcapsules safely protect the transplanted cells from graft rejection in the absence of long-term immunosuppression. Recent progress has allowed us to effectively eliminate the development of fibrosis surrounding the implanted microcapsules (De...

This paper presents a novel microcompartmentalized reaction system for cell-free protein synthesis using semi-permeable microcapsules. We used a microfluidic device to encapsulate template DNA and enzymes for cell-free protein synthesis into semi-permeable microcapsules composed of alginate and polyethylene imine (PEI). The template DNA was encapsulated into individual microcapsules at the conc...

We demonstrated a microwell array-based microfluidic system, allowing in situ analysis of the lipid content of individual microalgal cells in alginate hydrogel microcapsules. Alginate hydrogel microcapsules with a mean diameter of 26 μm, which encapsulate a single microalga stained with nondestructive lipophilic green fluorescent dye, BODIPY 505/515, were successfully docked inside the microwel...

Among various efficient cell culture systems, the encapsulation of living cells within alginate-poly-llysine (PLL) membrane has received much attention as a means of improving the production of desirable cellular products. This method, which was successfully demonstrated by Lim and Moss in 1979, was primarily developed to transplant living cells without an in oivo rejection reaction (Lim and Su...

The involvement of algal chemical cues in the pre-ingestive selection of food particles in Crassostrea gigas was studied using a new approach. Live cells of two microalgal species, Nitzschia closterium and Tetraselmis suesica, were separately entrapped in small alginate microcapsules using an emulsification/internal gelation method. Microcapsule size was adjusted to be within the range of parti...