Entrapment of islets into reversible disulfide hydrogels.
Currently, there are three types of devices for a bioartificial pancreas; microencapsulation, an extravascular diffusion chamber, and an intravascular diffusion chamber. The purpose of the present study was to provide a new extracellular matrix hydrogel for the devices of extra- and intravascular diffusion chamber types. As the sol-gel transition of this hydrogel is reversible, refilling of islets in vivo will be possible without a severe traumatic procedure. The hydrogel was produced from a polyacrylamide derivative carrying thiol groups synthesized by radical copolymerization of acrylamide and N,N'-bis-acrylcystamine, followed by reduction of the disulfide bonds in the copolymer. This water-soluble copolymer was used to entrap hamster islets by re-formation of disulfide bonds on the copolymer to produce a hydrogel. The formed hydrogel was easily reliquefied by reduction of the disulfide crosslinks to thiols. Insulin release from the islet-entrapped hydrogel continued for more than 1 month when examined in vitro. A static glucose stimulation test for the entrapped islets exhibited an increased insulin release.
Hisano
N
N
Research Center for Biomedical Engineering, Kyoto University, Japan.
Morikawa
N
N
Iwata
H
H
Ikada
Y
Y
D000818:Animals; D001187:Artificial Organs; D002470:Cell Survival; D006224:Cricetinae; D004220:Disulfides; D005782:Gels; D007515:Islets of Langerhans; D008647:Mesocricetus; D012996:Solutions; D014867:Water
D004220:Disulfides; D005782:Gels; D012996:Solutions; D014867:Water