In situ polymerization of a microencapsulating medium round living cells.

A new process for microencapsulating living cells is described. Pancreatic islet cells in solution in agarose were extruded from a syringe into a paraffin-oil-containing medium. A rigid interface around each bead was produced when the agarose gelled. A polymerizable mixture of monomers containing 30% of acrylamide and 1.5% of bisacrylamide was then added to these beads. Polymerization was initiated by a photochemical process using riboflavin as a photosensitizer, which enabled use of oxygenated solutions. As other polymerizations initiated by an oxido-reduction reaction, this method did not require heating, and could thus be carried out at ambient temperature. The oil phase near the agarose beads effectively prevented any rise in temperature, and also led to formation of an acrylamide concentration gradient in the aqueous phase, which reduced the potential cytotoxicity of the reaction. Radioimmunoassay of insulin liberated from encapsulated islets of Langerhans demonstrated a good viability of the cells.