Abstract
The study of mass transport across hollow and solid 3D microfibers to study metabolic profiles is a key aspect of tissue engineering approach. A new modified numerical mathematical model based on Fickian equations in cylindrical coordinates has been proposed for determining the membrane diffusivity of 2% (w/v) alginate-based stents cross-linked with 10% CaCl2. Based on the economical and direct spectrophotometric measurements, using this model, inward diffusivities ranging from 5.2x10-14 m2/s 2.93x10-12m2/s were computed for solutes with Stokes radii ranging between 0.36 to 3.5 nm, diffusing through bare alginate and alginate-chitosan-alginate microfibers. In parallel an analytical solution to the cylindrical Fickian equation was derived to validate the numerical solution using experimental diffusion data from a solid stent. Excellent agreement was found between the numerical and analytical models with a maximum calculated residual value of 4%. Using these models, a flexible computational platform is proposed to conduct custom diffusion and MW cut-off characterization across micro-porous microfibers not limited to alginate in composition.
Highlights
Modeling the diffusive behavior of polymeric materials is crucial for the development of several types of tissue engineering and drug delivery systems
Based on the validation approach of the modified mathematical model using solid micro-cylinder data, the model can be accurately applied to concentration profiles across hollow fibers
An inward diffusion study involving uptake of solutes into empty alginate microfibers coated with 0.5% chitosan or 0.1% PLL was performed
Summary
Modeling the diffusive behavior of polymeric materials is crucial for the development of several types of tissue engineering and drug delivery systems. Systems that use cylindrical geometry for clinical applications could be hollow fibers or tubular stents [1,2,3,4]. These applications have previously focused on tubular prostheses for the purpose of repairing or dilating a lumen of the body, hollow fiber applications have since expanded into microencapsulation technology [5,6,7]. It is assumed that the hollow fiber membrane is semi-permeable to allow transfer of drugs or tissue fluids. Enzymes, or cells within a microfibers has gained significant potential in the biomedical realm, and can be used in cell-culture, microfluidic systems, scaffolding, hemodialysis, and as bioreactors for generating monoclonal antibodies, viruses/antigens, recombinant proteins, and viable cells [4, 6,7,8]
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