Morphology and metabolism of Ba-alginate encapsulated hepatocytes with galactosylated poly(allyl amine) and poly(vinyl alcohol) as extracellular matrices

Abstract

Lactobionic acid, bearing a beta -galactose group, was coupled with poly(allyl amine) to provide synthetic extracellular matrices together with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). The hepatocytes were encapsulated in Ba-alginate capsules with galactosylated poly(allyl amine) (GA) and PVA as extracellular matrices. From microscopic observation, it was revealed that the microcapsule prepared has a highly porous structure with interconnected pores and pore sizes ranging between 50-150 nm on both the surface and the cross-section. It was found, from the permeability experiment of microcapsules using FITC-dextrans with different molecular weights, that the capsule has a molecular weight cut off (MWCO) of 120 kDa, showing the potential that it can function as an immunoprotecting wall. The hepatocytes, cultured with GA and PVA in the core of the microcapsule, rapidly aggregated within a day, thus resulting in good metabolic functions such as albumin synthesis and ammonia removal.

Rheological characterization of an injectable alginate gel system

“…Alginate hydrogels are most frequently produced by exposing an aqueous solution of alginate polymer to calcium ions, but many other di- and multivalent metal cations may also be used. As an alternative to Ca 2+ , both Ba 2+ and Sr 2+ produce stronger, yet still biocompatible alginate gels [ 19 - 22 ]. Gelling occurs when cations coordinate with the charged substituents of the monomer moieties, leading to the formation of interchain complexes involving several guluronate moieties on adjacent alginate strands.…”

Effect of Microencapsulated Hepatocytes Transplantation on Copper Metabolism of Rat Model with Hepatolenticular Degeneration

“…The preparation of microcapsules use of one-step process microcapsule-forming method with sodium alginate barium chloride (8)…”

Smart biomaterials: the contribution of glycoscience

“…110 Primary hepatocyte culture plays an important role in the clinical treatment of hepatic failure patients 111 to avoid natural human immune response and provide sufficient replacement of the synthetic and metabolic functions of the liver, which has been applied in many parts of bioengineering field such as bioartificial liver-assist device (BLA) 112 and tissue engineering for liver regeneration. 113 It is well known that the glycidic part of glycolipids and glycoproteins strongly interacts with lectins present at cell surfaces: 114 In particular, b-galactose residues are recognized by asialoglycoprotein receptors on the surfaces of hepatocytes 115 and promote hepatocyte attachment. 56,[116][117][118][119][120] Thus, many works were concerned with developing new scaffolds modified with galactose ligands (sse also next section) to enhance hepatocyte adhesion, maintenance of liver-specific functions and mechanical stability.…”