MICROENCAPSULATION OF VIABLE HEPATOCYTES IN HEMA-MMA MICROCAPSULES - A PRELIMINARY-STUDY

Viable rat hepatocytes were encapsulated in a HEMA-MMA copolymer (80% HEMA). Encapsulated hepatocytes continued to produce urea (a measure o f viability) for approximately 2 wk although urea production rates fel l steadily over the course of in vitro culture in a pattern similar to those of control hepatocytes in conventional culture. Urea production was slightly higher in 0.01 M Tris buffered glycerol precipitated cap sules, relative to phosphate buffered saline precipitated capsules. He patocytes were not viable in 0.001 M Tris buffered glycerol precipitat ed capsules which had a dense wall without the macroporosity seen in t he walls of the other capsules. More work is needed to show that HEMA- MMA encapsulated hepatocytes retain some of the differentiated functio ns of hepatocytes.