Synthesis of “click” Alginate Hydrogel Capsules and Comparison of Their Stability, Water Swelling, and Diffusion Properties with That of Ca+2 Crosslinked Alginate Capsules

Ionically crosslinked alginate hydrogels have been extensively explored for encapsulation and immunoisolation of living cells/tissues to develop implantable cell therapies, such as islet encapsulation for bioartificial pancreas. Chemical instability of these hydrogels during long-term implantation hinders the development of viable cell therapy. The exchange between divalent crosslinking ions (e.g., Ca+2) with monovalent ions from physiological environment causes alginate hydrogels to degrade, resulting in exposure of the donor tissue to the host's immune system and graft failure. The goal of this study was to improve stability of alginate hydrogels by utilizing covalent click crosslinking while preserving other biomedically viable hydrogel properties. Alginate was first functionalized to contain either pendant alkyne or azide functionalities, and subsequently reacted via click chemistry to form click gel capsules. Alginate functionalization was confirmed by NMR and gel permeation chromatography. When compared with Ca+2 capsules, click capsules exhibited superior stability in ionic media, while showing higher permeability to small size diffusants and similar molecular weight cut-off and water swelling. Physicochemical properties of click alginate hydrogels demonstrate their potential utility for therapeutic cell encapsulation and other biomedical applications. (c) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 103B: 1120-1132, 2015.