Biocompatible microcapsules with enhanced mechanical strength

A block copolymer, (short-chain alginate)-co-MPEG, was synthesized and used for coating the capsular membranes of the photosensitive microcapsules. Th e resulted microcapsules exhibited an excellent mechanical strength. The pe rmeability test results revealed that the capsular membrane was freely perm eable to cytochrome C and myoglobin, less permeable to serum albumin, and a lmost impermeable to IgG. In the cell attachment test, the results showed t hat the surface formed by (short-chain alginate)-co-MPEG copolymer could ef fectively reduce cell adhesion as compared to poly(L-lysine) and alginate. The microcapsules were evaluated by intraperitoneal implantation experiment of mice. The results demonstrated that microcapsules coated with (short-ch ain alginate)-co-MPEG were more biocompatible than the conventional alginat e/PLL/alginate microcapsules. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.