Alice A Tomei, Vita Manzoli, Christopher A Fraker, Jaime Giraldo, Diana Velluto, Mejdi Najjar, Antonello Pileggi, R Damaris Molano, Camillo Ricordi, Cherie L Stabler, Jeffrey A Hubbell
Encapsulation of islets of Langerhans may represent a way to transplant islets in the absence of immunosuppression. Traditional methods for encapsulation lead to diffusional limitations imposed by the size of the capsules (600-1,000 μm in diameter), which results in core hypoxia and delayed insulin secretion in response to glucose. Moreover, the large volume of encapsulated cells does not allow implantation in sites that might be more favorable to islet cell engraftment. To address these issues, we have developed an encapsulation method that allows conformal coating of islets through microfluidics and minimizes capsule size and graft volume...
July 22, 2014: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America