Chemistry and biocompatibility of alginate‐PLL capsules for immunoprotection of mammalian cells

Abstract Transplantation of encapsulated living cells is a promising approach for the treatment of a wide variety of diseases. Large‐scale application of the technique, however, is hampered by insufficient biocompatibility of the capsules. In order to get means to study factors influencing the biocompatibility of capsule for encapsulation of living cells, we have correlated the chemical composition of the surface of commonly applied alginate‐PLL capsules with the biological response in rats. Capsules prepared of alginates with an intermediate guluronic (G) acid content proved to be biocompatible, whereas capsules prepared of high‐G alginates were overgrown by inflammatory cells. We applied X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy to correlate the biological responses with the chemical compositions of the capsule surfaces. High‐G alginate capsules proved to have a higher PLL content but less surface binding sites for PLL than low‐G alginates. This study, shows for the first time that biological responses against capsules can be successfully correlated to its chemical characteristics. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res 60: 252–259, 2002; DOI 10.1002/jbm.10060