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Updated: Mar 11, 2026
Antigens Protected Functional Red Blood Cells By The Membrane Grafting Of Compact Hyperbranched Polyglycerols
Published on: January 2, 2013
Design of artificial red blood cells using polymeric hydrogel microcapsules: hydrogel stability improvement and
Wujie Zhang1, Matthew J Bissen1, Emily S Savela1
1BioMolecular Engineering Program, Department of Physics and Chemistry, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI - USA.
Purpose:
To improve the stability of pectin-oligochitosan hydrogel microcapsules under physiological conditions.
Methods:
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.
Results And Conclusions:
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.
