Alginate and tunicate nanocellulose composite microbeads - Preparation, characterization and cell encapsulation

Joachim S Kjesbu; Daria Zaytseva-Zotova; Sanna Sämfors; Paul Gatenholm; Christofer Troedsson; Eric M Thompson; Berit Løkensgard Strand

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.119284

Alginate and tunicate nanocellulose composite microbeads - Preparation, characterization and cell encapsulation

Carbohydr Polym. 2022 Jun 15:286:119284. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.119284. Epub 2022 Feb 25.

Authors

Joachim S Kjesbu¹, Daria Zaytseva-Zotova¹, Sanna Sämfors², Paul Gatenholm³, Christofer Troedsson⁴, Eric M Thompson⁵, Berit Løkensgard Strand⁶

Affiliations

¹ NOBIPOL, Department of Biotechnology and Food Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway.
² Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Biopolymer Technology, Wallenberg Wood Science Center, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden.
³ Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Biopolymer Technology, Wallenberg Wood Science Center, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden; CELLHEAL AS, Sandvika, Norway.
⁴ Ocean TuniCell AS, N-5258 Blomsterdalen, Norway.
⁵ Ocean TuniCell AS, N-5258 Blomsterdalen, Norway; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Bergen, N-5006 Bergen, Norway.
⁶ NOBIPOL, Department of Biotechnology and Food Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway. Electronic address: berit.l.strand@ntnu.no.

PMID: 35337506
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.119284

Abstract

Alginate has been used for decades for cell encapsulation. Cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) from tunicates are desirable in biomedicine due to high molecular weight, purity, crystallinity, and sustainable production. We prepared microbeads of 400-600 μm of alginate and tunicate CNF. Greater size, dispersity and aspect ratio were observed in microbeads with higher fractions of CNF. CNF content in Ca-crosslinked alginate microbeads decreased stability upon saline exposure, whereas crosslinking with calcium (50 mM) and barium (1 mM) yielded stable microbeads. The Young's moduli of gel cylinders decreased when exchanging alginate with CNF, and slightly increased permeability to dextran was observed in microbeads containing CNF. Encapsulation of MC3T3 cells revealed high cell viability after encapsulation (83.6 ± 0.4%) in beads of alginate and CNF. NHDFs showed lower viability but optimizing mixing and production techniques of microbeads increased cell viability (from 66.2 ± 5.3% to 72.7 ± 7.5%).

Keywords: Alginate; Cell encapsulation; Cellulose nanofibrils; Microbeads; Tunicate.

MeSH terms

Alginates*
Animals
Cell Encapsulation
Cellulose / pharmacology
Microspheres
Urochordata*

Substances

Alginates
Cellulose