Hydrogel Biomaterials for Stem Cell Microencapsulation

Abstract

Stem cell transplantation has been recognized as a promising strategy to induce the regeneration of injured and diseased tissues and sustain therapeutic molecules for prolonged periods in vivo. However, stem cell-based therapy is often ineffective due to low survival, poor engraftment, and a lack of site-specificity. Hydrogels can offer several advantages as cell delivery vehicles, including cell stabilization and the provision of tissue-like environments with specific cellular signals; however, the administration of bulk hydrogels is still not appropriate to obtain safe and effective outcomes. Hence, stem cell encapsulation in uniform micro-sized hydrogels and their transplantation in vivo have recently garnered great attention for minimally invasive administration and the enhancement of therapeutic activities of the transplanted stem cells. Several important methods for stem cell microencapsulation are described in this review. In addition, various natural and synthetic polymers, which have been employed for the microencapsulation of stem cells, are reviewed in this article.

Microcarriers for Upscaling Cultured Meat Production

“…Slowly degrading materials compatible with SC culture could also be used. MCs made of materials that have been developed with the purpose of being bio-chemically degraded in vivo in the context of skeletal tissue engineering and drug delivery systems become more relevant in this case (169)(170)(171)(172). For instance, Zhou et al have developed an alginate-fibrin microbead that starts to degrade and release cells 4 days after injection in a calcium phosphate cement scaffold (173).…”

A Versatile Microencapsulation Platform for Hyaluronic Acid and Polyethylene Glycol

“…17,18 However, scaling these methods to the levels needed for transplants can be challenging. An excellent review of the different methods used to create microspheres from PEG or HA, including photolithography, micromolding, and emulsion, can be found in Choe et al 19 We developed a novel method for producing hydrogel microspheres, termed core-shell spherification (CSS). This method was strategically designed for use with hydrogels with much slower gelation rates compared to alginate, enabling the production of microspheres with a variety of chemical, physical, and bioactive properties.…”

Construction of higher-order cellular microstructures by a self-wrapping co-culture strategy using a redox-responsive hydrogel

“…As demonstrated, the cell sheet was capable of wrapping other cells, and thus the cellular Furoshiki should provide an alternative approach for constructing complex, higher-order cellular microstructures. Although the main focus of this study is to investigate the potential of a confluent cell monolayer in a self-wrapping co-culture technique, we envisioned a possible application of the cellular Furoshiki either in the development of in vitro disease model for the drug screening application 3,72,73 and or the tissue engineering for the prevention of the rejection of immunosuppression in transplantation [74][75][76] .…”