Design and Stability Improvement of Pectin-Based Red Blood Cell-Mimicking Microcapsules for Oxygen Therapeutics.

A pectin-oligochitosan microcapsule system has recently been developed for novel oxygen therapeutic design. To improve the stability of the pectin-oligochitosan microcapsules in physiological conditions, both covalent (glutaraldehyde) and noncovalent (Mn and Ca) cross-linkers were tested. The chemistry and morphology of the microcapsules were studied using FTIR and SEM, respectively.