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In Situ Microfluidic Preparation and Solidification of Alginate Microgels

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Abstract

Biomimetic fabrication of alginate beads has promising applications in the field of synthetic bioarchitecture. Combining microfluidic technology with in situ gelation enables the creation of alginate microgels with precisely tunable size, as well as allowing control of the crosslinking process. Owing to the wide range of applications of alginate microgel beads, this study aimed to develop various microfluidic models for the generation of such beads by investigating the influence of several parameters on their morphologies and dispersity. Four types of glass microfluidic chips with flow focusing or co-flowing droplet generators were used to continuously form alginate droplets, with the possibility of either internal or external alginate gelation by a cross-linking agent supplied by a microfluidic channel. In all four models, alginate was used at a fixed concentration, Span 80 was used as a surfactant to improve the long-term stability of the beads, either mineral oil or oleic acid was used as a continuous phase, and either calcium carbonate (CaCO3) or calcium chloride (CaCl2) was used as a crosslinking agent. The generated beads exhibited various architectures, including individual monodisperse or polydisperse beads, small clusters, and multicompartment systems. The results of the study revealed the importance of microfluidic design and gelation strategy for the generation of stable polymeric architectures. The current study proposes a simple user’s guide to create alginate microgels in various architectures. The fabricated biomimetic models in the form of polymeric-based vesicles can be further exploited in several applications, including cell-like structures, tissue engineering, and cell and drug encapsulation. Additional investigations will be needed, however, to improve these models so that they more closely resemble the natural structures of cells and tissues.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), 21589, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    Samar Damiati

  2. Division of Nanobiotechnology, Department of Protein Science, Science for Life Laboratory, School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, 171 21, Solna, Stockholm, Sweden

    Samar Damiati

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  1. Samar Damiati
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Correspondence to Samar Damiati.

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Acknowledgment: The author would like to thank Dolomite Microfluidics (Royston, UK) for supporting this work.

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Damiati, S. In Situ Microfluidic Preparation and Solidification of Alginate Microgels. Macromol. Res. 28, 1046–1053 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13233-020-8142-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13233-020-8142-9

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