Feasibility of carboxymethylcellulose with phenol moieties as a material for mammalian cell-enclosing subsieve-size capsules

Abstract

Mammalian cell-enclosing capsules have been investigated as devices for bioproduction, cell therapy and stem cell research. In this study, carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) with phenol moieties (CMC-Ph), synthesized through the conjugation reaction of CMC and tyramine, was investigated as a material for these types of devices. Subsieve-size capsules of less than 100 μm in diameter were prepared by extruding aqueous CMC-Ph solution into co-flowing liquid paraffin containing H2O2. The capsule diameter was controlled between 60–220 μm by changing the flow rate of liquid paraffin. There was no harmful effect specific for CMC-Ph on mammalian cells enclosed in capsules. Feline kidney cells enclosed in subsieve-size CMC-Ph capsules exhibited 87.0 ± 4.5% viability. In addition, the enclosed cells continued to grow over 13 days of study. These results demonstrated the feasibility of CMC-Ph as a material for subsieve-size cell-enclosing capsules prepared via the droplet breakup technique in a co-flowing water-immiscible fluid.