Jr. Hwang et Mv. Sefton, THE EFFECTS OF POLYMER CONCENTRATION AND A PORE-FORMING AGENT (PVP) ON HEMA-MMA MICROCAPSULE STRUCTURE AND PERMEABILITY, Journal of membrane science, 108(3), 1995, pp. 257-268
The permeability to horseradish peroxidase, (HRP, MW 40 kDa) increased
approximately sixty-fold by decreasing the concentration of polymer (
HEMA-MMA, hydroxyethyl methacrylate-methyl methacrylate) in triethylen
e glycol (TEG) from 10 or 11% to 9% (w/v), in microcapsules prepared b
y interfacial precipitation into phosphate buffered saline. Permeabili
ty was determined at the individual capsule level by enzyme-chromogeni
c substrate assay. With the lower polymer concentration, aggregates an
d the interconnecting structures formed large interstitial spaces and
what appeared to be large pores on the external surface, Adding poly(v
inyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) to the HEMA-MMA solution increased the capsule
permeability, as much as 25-fold, apparently by increasing the extern
al pore density (defined as the number of pores per unit surface area)
without significant deviation in pore size and its distribution. Thus
PVP is potentially useful for enhancing the permeability of these cap
sules which are used to immunoisolate cells used for transplantation.
Measurements of molecular weight cut-off are needed before demonstrati
ng that PVP/HEMA-MMA microcapsules are capable of immunoisolating the
entrapped cells while maintaining high permeability to the materials e
ssential to encapsulated cell survival and the bioactive cellular prod
ucts such as insulin.