Complex Fluids Research Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Swansea University, Swansea SA1 8EN, United Kingdom.
Centre for Materials Physics, Department of Physics, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom.
Anal Chem. 2024 Jun 25;96(25):10140-10144. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.4c01574. Epub 2024 Jun 11.
Photochemical cross-linking is a key step for manufacturing microgels in numerous applications, including drug delivery, tissue engineering, material production, and wound healing. Existing photochemical cross-linking techniques in microfluidic devices rely on UV curing, which can cause cell and DNA damage. We address this challenge by developing a microfluidic workflow for producing microgels using visible light-driven photochemical cross-linking of aqueous droplets dispersed in a continuous oil phase. We report a proof-of-concept to construct microgels from the protein Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) with [Ru(bpy)] mediated cross-linking. By controlling the capillary number of the continuous and dispersed phases, the volumetric flow rate, and the photochemical reaction time within the microfluidic tubing, we demonstrate the construction of protein microgels with controllable and uniform dimensions. Our technique can, in principle, be applied to a wide range of different proteins with biological and responsive properties. This work therefore bridges the gap between hydrogel manufacturing using visible light and microfluidic microgel templating, facilitating numerous biomedical applications.
光化学交联是制造微凝胶的关键步骤,在药物输送、组织工程、材料生产和伤口愈合等众多应用中都有应用。现有的微流控设备中的光化学交联技术依赖于紫外光固化,这可能会导致细胞和 DNA 损伤。我们通过开发一种使用可见光照驱动的分散在连续油相中的水相液滴的光化学交联来制造微凝胶的微流控工作流程来解决这一挑战。我们报告了一个使用[Ru(bpy)]介导的交联从蛋白质牛血清白蛋白(BSA)构建微凝胶的概念验证。通过控制连续相和分散相的毛细数、体积流速和微流管内的光化学反应时间,我们展示了具有可控和均匀尺寸的蛋白质微凝胶的构建。我们的技术原则上可以应用于具有生物和响应特性的广泛的不同蛋白质。因此,这项工作在使用可见光制造水凝胶和微流控微凝胶模板之间架起了桥梁,为众多的生物医学应用提供了便利。
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