The potential of the incorporated collagen microspheres in alginate hydrogel as an engineered three-dimensional microenvironment to attenuate apoptosis in human pancreatic islets.

Background: Tissue engineering is considered as a promising tool for remodeling the native cells microenvironment. In the present study, the effect of alginate hydrogel and collagen microspheres integrated with extracellular matrix components were evaluated in the decrement of apoptosis in human pancreatic islets.

Materials/methods: For three-dimensional culture, the islets were encapsulated in collagen microspheres, containing laminin and collagen IV and embedded in alginate scaffold for one week. After that the islets were examined in terms of viability, apoptosis, genes and proteins expression including BAX, BCL2, active caspase-3, and insulin. Moreover, the islets function was evaluated through glucose-induced insulin and C-peptide secretion assay. In order to evaluate the structure of the scaffolds and the morphology of the pancreatic islets in three-dimensional microenvironments, we performed scanning electron microscopy.

Results: Our findings showed that the designed hydrogel scaffolds significantly improved the islets viability using the reduction of activated caspase-3 and TUNEL positive cells.

Conclusions: The reconstruction of the destructed matrix with alginate hydrogels and collagen microspheres might be an effective step to promote the culture of the islets.