Cell microencapsulation in polyethylene glycol hydrogel microspheres using electrohydrodynamic spraying

Abstract

Microencapsulation of cells is beneficial for various biomedical applications, such as tissue regeneration and cell delivery. While a variety of techniques can be used to produce microspheres, electrohydrodynamic spraying (EHS) has shown promising results for the fabrication of cell-laden hydrogel microspheres in a wide range of sizes and in a relatively high-throughput manner. Here we describe an EHS technique for the fabrication of cell-laden polyethylene glycol (PEG) microspheres. We utilize mild hydrogel gelation chemistry and a combination of EHS parameters to allow for cell microencapsulation with high efficiency and viability. We also give examples on the effect of different EHS parameters such as inner diameter of the needle, voltage and flow rate on microsphere size and encapsulated cell viability.