1565-P: Hierarchically Structured Vascularized Hydrogel for Glycemic Control via Minimally Invasive Islet Transplantation

Introduction and Objective: Islet encapsulation is an effective method to achieve immune isolation for islet transplantation. The injectable property of the self-healing hydrogel enables minimally invasive transplantation of hydrogel-encapsulated pancreatic islets. Methods: We prepared hydrogel short fiber scaffolds for wrapping islet cells using a microfluidic approach in this experiment. Oxidized sodium alginate and carboxymethyl chitosan were synthesized to form self-healing hydrogels to wrap vascularized components. A mixture of the two hydrogels was injected subcutaneously into diabetic mice and continuously monitored the blood glucose. The mice were sacrificed on the 100th day of the experiment, and tissue sections were stained to observe the condition of the grafts. Results: The composite hydrogel was demonstrated to have good biocompatibility, injectability, permeability and adhesion. The inclusion of vascularized components also improved islet function. In vivo glycemic control was achieved by transplanting the islet-encapsulated hydrogel for 100 days, and immunofluorescence staining showed that the grafts had insulin and glucagon expression. Conclusion: In conclusion, hierarchically structured vascularized hydrogels provide a new strategy for cell therapy of diabetes, as well as new ideas for tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine development. Disclosure Z. Huan: None. J. Li: None. L. Li: None.