Transplantation of microencapsulated islet cells holds great potential for the treatment of type 1 diabetes mellitus. However, its clinical translation is hampered by the peri‐transplantation loss of islet viability and functionality in the microcapsules. In this work, a novel islet cells biomimetic microencapsulant material that is based on the interpenetrating networks of alginate and extracellular matrix (ECM) hydrogel composite (AEC) is presented. The ECM component is derived from human lipoaspirate. In situ encapsulation of pancreatic β islet cells (MIN6 β‐cells) can be achieved via ionotropic gelation of the alginate matrix and thermal‐induced gelation of the pepsin‐solubilized ECM pre‐gel. Due to the enhanced cell–matrix interaction, islets encapsulated within the AEC microcapsules (≈640 µm) display sevenfold increase in cell growth over 1 week of culture and characteristic glucose‐stimulated insulin response in vitro. The results show that the AEC microcapsule is a potent platform to bioaugment the performance of islet cells.

中文翻译：

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藻酸盐-人脂肪细胞外基质水凝胶互穿网络，用于胰岛细胞包封。

微囊化胰岛细胞的移植具有治疗1型糖尿病的巨大潜力。但是，其临床翻译受到移植过程中微胶囊中胰岛活力和功能丧失的阻碍。在这项工作中，提出了一种新型的胰岛细胞仿生微胶囊材料，该材料基于藻酸盐和细胞外基质（ECM）水凝胶复合材料（AEC）的互穿网络。ECM成分源自人脂肪抽吸物。胰岛β胰岛细胞（MIN6β细胞）的原位包裹可通过藻酸盐基质的离子型凝胶化和胃蛋白酶溶解的ECM预凝胶的热诱导凝胶来实现。由于细胞矩阵互动的增强，封装在AEC微胶囊（≈640µm）中的胰岛在培养1周后显示出细胞生长的七倍增长，并具有体外葡萄糖刺激的独特胰岛素反应。结果表明，AEC微胶囊是生物增强胰岛细胞性能的有效平台。