Abstract

Biosample encapsulation is a critical step in a wide range of biomedical and bioengineering applications. Aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) droplets have been recently introduced and showed a great promise to the biological separation and encapsulation due to their excellent biocompatibility. This study shows for the first time the passive generation of salt-based ATPS microdroplets and their biocompatibility test. We used two ATPS including polymer/polymer (polyethylene glycol (PEG)/dextran (DEX)) and polymer/salt (PEG/Magnesium sulfate) for droplet generation in a flow-focusing geometry. Droplet morphologies and monodispersity in both systems are studied. The PEG/salt system showed an excellent capability of uniform droplet formation with a wide range of sizes (20–60 μm) which makes it a suitable candidate for encapsulation of biological samples. Therefore, we examined the potential application of the PEG/salt system for encapsulating human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). A cell viability test was conducted on MgSO4 solutions at various concentrations and our results showed an adequate cell survival. The findings of this research suggest that the polymer/salt ATPS could be a biocompatible all-aqueous platform for cell encapsulation.

Details

Title
Polymer-Salt Aqueous Two-Phase System (ATPS) Micro-Droplets for Cell Encapsulation
Author
Mastiani, Mohammad 1 ; Firoozi, Negar 2 ; Petrozzi, Nicholas 2 ; Seo, Seokju 2 ; Kim, Myeongsub 2 

 Center for Biosignatures Discovery Automation, School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA 
 Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA 
Pages
1-9
Publication year
2019
Publication date
Oct 2019
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2310420979
Copyright
© 2019. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.