Biopolymer Microparticles Prepared by Microfluidics for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Biopolymers are macromolecules that are derived from natural sources and have attractive properties for a plethora of biomedical applications due to their biocompatibility, biodegradability, low antigenicity, and high bioactivity. Microfluidics has emerged as a powerful approach for fabricating polymeric microparticles (MPs) with designed structures and compositions through precise manipulation of multiphasic flows at the microscale. The synergistic combination of materials chemistry afforded by biopolymers and precision provided by microfluidic capabilities make it possible to design engineered biopolymer-based MPs with well-defined physicochemical properties that are capable of enabling an efficient delivery of therapeutics, 3D culture of cells, and sensing of biomolecules. Here, an overview of microfluidic approaches is provided for the design and fabrication of functional MPs from three classes of biopolymers including polysaccharides, proteins, and microbial polymers, and their advances for biomedical applications are highlighted. An outlook into the future research on microfluidically-produced biopolymer MPs for biomedical applications is also provided.

Keywords: biopolymers; cell encapsulation; droplet microfluidics; drug delivery; functional microparticles.