A new process for cell microencapsulation and other biomaterial applications: Thermal gelation and chemical cross-linking in "tandem".

The very rapid gelation of a cell- or biomolecule-containing solution is at the basis of most processes employed in microencapsulation. Adequately quick ('instantaneous') gelation kinetics are provided by a number of phenomena based on physical association. On the other hand, physical gels are inherently reversible structures, which can be solubilized or disrupted in response to often poorly controllable phenomena in the environment of application, such as dilution, changes in temperature, ion strength and composition, pH, or other physical or chemical parameters. Chemically cross-linked hydrogels would have therefore significant advantages in terms of stability and end-properties; however, the time required for chemical reactions to produce a chemically cross-linked material is in a more general case hardly compatible with microencapsulation processes. In a recent study of our laboratory we have proposed a new approach for providing both quick gelation kinetics and good stability, by simply combining the rapid kinetics of a physical hardening phenomenon with a slower chemical curing; the former process is thus responsible of the morphogenesis of the material, while the latter develops its end-properties.