Multilayered Freestanding Porous Polycarbonate Nanosheets with Directed Protein Permeability for Cell-Encapsulated Devices.

Implantable pancreatic β cell-encapsulated devices are required for the treatment of type 1 diabetes. Such devices should enable a semipermeable membrane to release insulin in response to glucose levels while avoiding immune reactions. Micrometer-thick track-etched porous polycarbonate (PC) membranes have been used for this purpose.

An intrinsically semi-permeable PDMS nanosheet encapsulating adipose tissue-derived stem cells for enhanced angiogenesis.

Cell encapsulation devices are expected to be promising tools that can control the release of therapeutic proteins secreted from transplanted cells. The protein permeability of the device membrane is important because it allows the isolation of transplanted cells while enabling the effectiveness of the device. In this study, we investigated free-standing polymeric ultra-thin films (nanosheets) as an intrinsically semi-permeable membrane made from polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS).

Nanosheet Promotes Chronic Wound Healing by Localizing Uncultured Stromal Vascular Fraction Cells.

To develop an efficacious and efficient method for treating chronic wounds using "nanosheet" that improves the survival and localization of transplanted cells without prior seeding to optimally derive the regenerative potentials of uncultured stromal vascular fraction (SVF) cells. We propose a method whereby the wound is covered by uncultured SVF cells using the nanosheet [porous poly(d, l,-lactic acid)] (PDLLA) films) designed to hold cells in a single-cell layer. A chronic wound model was created on 12-month-old db/db mice by inflecting a full-thickness skin excision on their dorsum and was subsequently given either no treatment or a treatment with SVF cells alone (with Tegaderm dressing), nanosheet alone, or nanosheet with SVF cells.

Porous Polymeric Nanofilms for Recreating the Basement Membrane in an Endothelial Barrier-on-Chip.

Organs-on-chips (OoCs) support an organotypic human cell culture . Precise representation of basement membranes (BMs) is critical for mimicking physiological functions of tissue interfaces. Artificial membranes in polyester (PES) and polycarbonate (PC) commonly used in models and OoCs do not replicate the characteristics of the natural BMs, such as submicrometric thickness, selective permeability, and elasticity.

Recreating cellular barriers in human microphysiological systems in-vitro.

Within cellular barriers, cells are separated by basement membranes (BMs), nanometer-thick extracellular matrix layers. In existing in-vitro cellular-barrier models, cell-to-cell signaling can be preserved by culturing different cells in individual chambers separated by a semipermeable membrane. Their structure does not always replicate the BM thickness nor diffusion through it.