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Characterization of Microcapsules

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Fundamentals of Cell Immobilisation Biotechnology

Part of the book series: Focus on Biotechnology ((FOBI,volume 8A))

Abstract

The encapsulation of mammalian cells has been a topic of intensive research, if not since Chang’s pioneering work [1], certainly after Sun showed long-term normoglycaemia in diabetic rats [2] by immunoisolating xenotransplanted islets in a semipermeable polymeric membrane. Therefore, since the early 1980s, two dozen academic groups and approximately the same number of, generally venture capital funded, private firms, have attempted to move the field into larger animal trials, and the clinic, all the while with the ambition of increasing the period of transplanted cell function. However, despite the field’s potential, and the outstanding groups working therein, progress has been very slow. This can be explained, to a large extent, by the inability to consistently isolate, and disseminate, technologies for cell isolation. Primary cell lines are also lacking for the great majority of hormone deficient diseases, which would require such a therapy. Concomitant with the lack of tissue supply is the inability of all but the most selective groups, to be able to cryopreserve or “bank” cell lines, limiting the number of pre-clinical trials. A final difficulty has been the lack of any batches of biocompatible materials, even for the relatively simply alginate bead-based capsules. The longstanding goal of having firms, or laboratories, provide clinically pre-certified lots, therefore, seems unrealizable.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. AQUA+TECH Specialties S.A., 4 Chemin du Chalet-du-bac, CP 28 La Plaine, CH-1283, Geneva, Switzerland

    David Hunkeler

  2. Laboratory of Chemical Biotechnology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Christine Wandrey

  3. lnstitute of Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering, Trojdena Str 4, 02-109, Warsaw, Poland

    Stefan Rosinski, Dorota Lewinska & Andrzej Werynski

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  1. David Hunkeler
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  2. Christine Wandrey
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  3. Stefan Rosinski
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  4. Dorota Lewinska
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  5. Andrzej Werynski
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro

    Viktor Nedović

  2. Free University of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium

    Ronnie Willaert

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Hunkeler, D., Wandrey, C., Rosinski, S., Lewinska, D., Werynski, A. (2004). Characterization of Microcapsules. In: Nedović, V., Willaert, R. (eds) Fundamentals of Cell Immobilisation Biotechnology. Focus on Biotechnology, vol 8A. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1638-3_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1638-3_21

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  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-1638-3

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