title: Design of artificial red blood cells using polymeric hydrogel microcapsules: hydrogel stability improvement and polymer selection.
abstract: To improve the stability of pectin-oligochitosan hydrogel microcapsules under physiological conditions.
  
  
  
  Two different approaches were examined: change of the cross-linker length and treatment of the hydrogel microcapsules with 150 Mm CaCl2. Replacement of pectin with alginate was also studied.
  
  
  
  It was observed that the molecular weight of the cross-linker oligochiotsan had no significant improvement on microcapsule stability. On the other hand, the treatment of pectin-oligochitosan microcapsules with Ca2+ increased the microcapsule stability significantly. Different types of alginate were used; however, no red-blood-cell-shaped microcapsules could be produced, which is likely due to the charge-density difference between deprotonated pectin and alginate polymers.
authors.affiliation: BioMolecular Engineering Program, Department of Physics and Chemistry, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI - USA.
authors.forename: Wujie
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: BioMolecular Engineering Program, Department of Physics and Chemistry, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI - USA.
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Bissen
authors.affiliation: BioMolecular Engineering Program, Department of Physics and Chemistry, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI - USA.
authors.forename: Emily S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Savela
authors.affiliation: BioMolecular Engineering Program, Department of Physics and Chemistry, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI - USA.
authors.forename: Joshua N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Clausen
authors.affiliation: BioMolecular Engineering Program, Department of Physics and Chemistry, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI - USA.
authors.forename: Samantha J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Fredricks
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI - USA.
authors.forename: Xiaoru
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: BioMolecular Engineering Program, Department of Physics and Chemistry, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI - USA.
authors.forename: Zachary R
authors.initials: ZR
authors.lastname: Paquin
authors.affiliation: BioMolecular Engineering Program, Department of Physics and Chemistry, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI - USA.
authors.forename: Ryan P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Dohn
authors.affiliation: BioMolecular Engineering Program, Department of Physics and Chemistry, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI - USA.
authors.forename: Ian J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Pavelich
authors.affiliation: BioMolecular Engineering Program, Department of Physics and Chemistry, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI - USA.
authors.forename: Alec L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Polovchak
authors.affiliation: BioMolecular Engineering Program, Department of Physics and Chemistry, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI - USA.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Wedemeyer
authors.affiliation: BioMolecular Engineering Program, Department of Physics and Chemistry, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI - USA.
authors.forename: Brock E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Shilling
authors.affiliation: BioMolecular Engineering Program, Department of Physics and Chemistry, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI - USA.
authors.forename: Emily N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Dufner
authors.affiliation: BioMolecular Engineering Program, Department of Physics and Chemistry, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI - USA.
authors.forename: Anna C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: O'Donnell
authors.affiliation: BioMolecular Engineering Program, Department of Physics and Chemistry, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI - USA.
authors.forename: Gerardo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rubio
authors.affiliation: BioMolecular Engineering Program, Department of Physics and Chemistry, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI - USA.
authors.forename: Logan R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Readnour
authors.affiliation: BioMolecular Engineering Program, Department of Physics and Chemistry, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI - USA.
authors.forename: Tyler F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: BioMolecular Engineering Program, Department of Physics and Chemistry, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI - USA.
authors.forename: Jung C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: BioMolecular Engineering Program, Department of Physics and Chemistry, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI - USA.
authors.forename: Matey G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Kaltchev
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI - USA.
authors.forename: Junhong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering Program, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI - USA.
authors.forename: Charles S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Tritt