A novel microfluidic based technique for encapsulation of Langerhans´ islets using high viscosity alginate and BaSO4 nanoparticles

Transplantation of immunoisolated endocrine tissue could improve the therapy of many diseases, especially the in industrial countries common diabetes mellitus, without use of immunosuppressive treatment. Many efforts have been taken to choose the proper capsule material, to make it biocompatible and to produce it in a standardized way but the capsule production process still needs improvement. Ultra high viscosity alginate is currently the most promising capsule material because its biocompatibility and the crosslinking conditions are biologically agreeable. Common capsule production techniques are e.g. spray-, vibration- or jet-cutting technique but these techniques are not in a closed system and therefore open to contamination and external influence. Here, we want to present a novel, microfluidic based encapsulation machine and first, promising results with different cell types.