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Updated: Mar 14, 2026
Generation of Alginate Microspheres for Biomedical Applications
Published on: August 12, 2012
Fabrication of stable galactosylated alginate microcapsules via covalent coupling onto hydroxyl groups for
Ruyun Lou1, Weiting Yu2, Yizhe Song1
1Laboratory of Biomedical Materials Engineering, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, PR China; University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China.
Abstract:
Galactose moieties are covalently coupled with sodium alginate to enhance liver-specific functions in microcapsules owing to the specific interaction between the galactose moieties and the asialoglycoprotein receptors (ASGPRs) of hepatocytes. In this study, galactosylated alginate (L-NH2-OH-alginate) based microcapsules with desirable stability and a suitable 3D microenvironment are designed and fabricated for primary hepatocyte applications. The designed L-NH2-OH-alginate is fabricated via the application of ethylenediamine grafted lactobionic acid (L-NH2) onto the hydroxyl groups of sodium alginate so that the negatively charged carboxyl groups intact in L-NH2-OH-alginate can effectively bond with Ca2+ to form a stable three-dimensional gel network; a subsequent reaction with polycations forms a stable membrane of microcapsules. As a result, L-NH2-OH-alginate based microcapsules exhibit an excellent mechanical stability. Moreover, with a higher degree of substitution in L-NH2-OH-alginate (DS 0.41), the hepatocytes entrapped in L-NH2-OH-alginate microcapsules exhibit better viability and well-maintained liver-specific functions.
