The use of field effects to generate calcium alginate microspheres and its application in cell transplantation.

The diameter and sphericity of alginate-poly-L-lysine-alginate microcapsules, which was determined by the size and shape of calcium alginate microspheres, affected durability and biocompatibility of microcapsules and the result of transplantation. The commonly used airjet spray method generated microspheres with wide variation in diameter and sphericity. In order to overcome these drawbacks, we designed a field effect microparticle generator which established a stable electric field. This generated calcium alginate microspheres with an adjustable diameter (range, 50-350 microns). Factors which influenced the diameter and sphericity of microspheres included the percentage of alginate, field strength, speed of extrusion of alginate, needle gauge, field distance, and cell density in sodium alginate. The conditions used for microencapsulation of rat, pig, and human islets were 5500-6500 volts, 22 gauge needle with blunt end, 1-cm field distance, 1.5% sodium alginate, and 0.57 mL/min extrusion speed. These combinations would give most of the islet-containing microcapsules a diameter of 300-450 microns when alginate microspheres were incubated with calcium chloride solution for a total of six minutes. If individual cells (eg, NS-1) were microencapsulated, a larger gauge needle resulted in smaller microcapsules. Field strength of 6500 volts at a distance of 1 cm did not change the doubling time of NS-1 myeloma cells. By using the electric field microparticle generator, encapsulated cells were distributed around the periphery of the microspheres and thus improved the oxygen and nutrient supply of these encapsulated cells.