Chitosan Microbeads Produced by One-Step Scalable Stirred Emulsification: A Promising Process for Cell Therapy Applications.

Cell microencapsulation is a promising approach to improve cell therapy outcomes by protecting injected cells from rapid dispersion and allowing bidirectional diffusion of nutrients, oxygen, and waste that promote cell survival in the target tissues. Here, we describe a simple and scalable emulsification method to encapsulate animal cells in chitosan microbeads using thermosensitive gel formulations without any chemical modification and cross-linker. The process consists of a water-in-oil emulsion where the aqueous phase droplets contain cells (L929 fibroblasts or human mesenchymal stromal cells), chitosan acidic solution and gelling agents (sodium hydrogen carbonate and phosphate buffer or beta-glycerophosphate).