Functional Polymers and Capsules

功能聚合物和胶囊

• 批准号: RGPIN-2016-06526
• 负责人: Stover, Harald
• 金额: $ 3.35万
• 依托单位: McMaster University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=632878
• 关键词: Functional; Polymers; Capsules

My research involves the development of reactive, multi-responsive polymers and their use in a biomaterials context, including therapeutic cell encapsulation and in cell research. A major focus is on preparing pairs of water-soluble polymers that spontaneously react with each other to form cell-compatible hydrogels. Some of these polymers have cationic and anionic charges that allow them to be coated onto cell-containing calcium alginate capsules, where electrostatic attraction enhances their covalent cross-coupling. The resulting, covalently reinforced cell-containing capsules, are designed for long-term transplantation into, e.g., peritoneal cavities of patients suffering from hormone deficiency disorders such as insulin-dependant Diabetes. These capsules need to balance four requirements: 1. be permeable enough to allow nutrient and insulin diffusion, 2. provide a physical barrier to protect the encapsulated cells from the hosts' immune system, 3. be non-inflammatory themselves, and 4. resist degradation for one year. Current state-of-the-art capsules are largely based on polycation-coated calcium alginate, derived from seaweed, that elicit inflammatory and immune responses due to the polycation, as well as biocontaminants and inflammatory motifs in the alginate. We were able to demonstrate that crosslinked synthetic hydrogel coatings can reduce the hosts' immune response, attributed to both physical shielding of the alginate, and to the strongly hydrophilic nature of these hydrogel coatings due to the presence of excess carboxylate anions.

我的研究涉及反应性、多响应性聚合物的开发及其在生物材料领域的应用，包括治疗性细胞封装和细胞研究。一个主要的焦点是制备成对的水溶性聚合物，它们可以自发地相互反应，形成细胞相容的水凝胶。这些聚合物中的一些具有阳离子和阴离子电荷，使它们能够被涂覆在含有海藻酸钙的细胞胶囊上，其中静电吸引力增强了它们的共价交叉偶联。由此产生的共价强化的含细胞胶囊，设计用于长期移植，例如，患有激素缺乏性疾病（如胰岛素依赖型糖尿病）的患者的腹膜腔。这些胶囊需要平衡四个要求：1。具有足够的渗透性，使营养物质和胰岛素能够扩散；2 .提供物理屏障，保护被包裹的细胞免受宿主免疫系统的攻击；3 .自身不发炎；抗降解一年。目前最先进的胶囊主要基于海藻酸钙的聚阳离子包被，海藻酸钙来源于海藻，由于聚阳离子，海藻酸钙中的生物污染物和炎症基元会引起炎症和免疫反应。我们能够证明交联合成水凝胶涂层可以降低宿主的免疫反应，这归因于藻酸盐的物理屏蔽，以及由于过量羧酸阴离子的存在，这些水凝胶涂层具有强烈的亲水性。