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Hydrogel microspheres, beads, and capsules of uniform size, differing in their chemical composition, have been prepared by electrostatic complex formation of sodium alginate with divalent cations and polycations. These have served as model spheres to study the influence of the chemical composition on both surface characteristics and bulk mechanical properties. Resistance to compression experiments yielding the compression work clearly identified differences as a function of the composition, with forces at maximal compression in the range of 34-455 mN. The suitability and informative value of atomic force microscopy have been confirmed for the case where surface characterization is performed in a liquid environment equivalent to physiological conditions. Surface imaging and mechanical response to indentation revealed different average surface roughness and Young's moduli for all hydrogel types ranging from 0.9 to 14.4 nm and from 0.4 to 440 kPa, respectively. The hydrogels exhibited pure elastic behavior. Despite a relatively high standard deviation, resulting from both surface and batch heterogeneity, nonoverlapping ranges of Young's moduli were reproducibly identified for the selected model spheres. The findings indicate the reliability of contact mode atomic force microscopy to quantify local surface properties, which may have an impact on the biocompatibility of alginate-based hydrogel materials of different composition and conditions of preparation. Moreover, it seems that local elastic properties and bulk mechanical characteristics are subject to analogous composition influences.

The bioconversion of L-phenylalanine to 2-phenylethanol by Saccharomyces cerevisiae in fed-batch experiments has shown that concentrations of 2-phenylethanol of >2.9 g/L have a negative impact on the oxidative capacity of the yeast. Without tight control on ethanol production, and hence on the feed rate, ethanol rapidly accumulates in the culture media, resulting in complete inhibition of cell growth before the maximal 2-phenylethanol concentration of 3.8 g/L, obtained in the absence of ethanol production, could be achieved. This effect was attributed to a cumulative effect of ethanol and 2-phenylethanol, which reduced the tolerance of the cells for these two products. To enhance the productivity of the bioconversion, a novel in situ product recovery strategy, based on the entrapment of an organic solvent (dibutylsebacate) into a polymeric matrix of polyethylene to form a highly absorbent and chemically and mechanically stable composite resin, was developed. Immobilization of the organic solvent successfully prevented phase toxicity of the solvent and allowed for an efficient removal of 2-phenylethanol from the bioreactor without the need for prior cell separation. The use of the composite resin increased the volumetric productivity of 2-phenylethanol by a factor 2 and significantly facilitated downstream processing, because no stable emulsion was formed. The 2-phenylethanol could be backextracted from the composite resin, yielding a concentrated and almost cell-free solution. In comparison to two-phase extractive fermentations with cells immobilized in alginate-reinforced chitosan beads, the use of a composite resin was extremely inexpensive and simple. In addition, the composite resin was found to be insensitive to abrasion and chemically stable, such that sterilization with 2 M NaOH or heat was possible. Finally, the composite resin could be produced on a large scale using commercially available equipment., (Copyright 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 82: 103-110, 2003.)

Alginate beads, as well as microcapsules based on alginate, cellulose sulphate and polymethylene-co-guanidine, were produced at diameters of 0.4, 1.0 and 1.5 mm. These standard materials were tested, by independent laboratories, in regards to water activity, bead or capsule size, mechanical resistance and transport behaviour. The water activity and mechanical resistance were observed to increase with bead and capsule size. Transport properties (ingress) were assessed using a variety of low molar mass and macromolecular probes. It was observed that the penetration of Vitamin B12 increased with bead diameter, as did dextran penetration. However, for the membrane-containing microcapsules, larger membrane thickness, observed for the larger capsules, retarded ingress. The authors, who are part of a European working group, recommend that permeability be assessed either using a large range of probes or a broad molar mass standard, with measurements at one or two molar masses insufficient to simulate the behaviour in application. Mechanical compression is seen as a good means to estimate elasticity and rupture of beads and capsules, with the sensitivity of the force transducer, which can vary from microN to tens of N, required to be tuned to the anticipated bead or capsule strength. Overall, with the exception of the mechanical properties, the precision in the inter-laboratory testing was good. Furthermore, the various methods of assessing transport properties agreed, in ranking, for the beads and capsules characterized, with gels having smaller radii being less permeable. For microcapsules, the permeation across the membrane dominates the ingress, and thicker membranes have lower permeability.

The high-pressure freezing (HPF) technique was applied to the cryo-immobilization of alginate gels and the quality of the freezing analyzed on a TEM by comparison of the segregation pattern of samples of decreasing thickness. Dynamic simulations of heat transfer within an idealized slab of pure water surrounded by two walls of aluminium were performed to illustrate the effect of the heat-transfer coefficient by convection on the cooling rate of the sample. Heat-transfer coefficients in liquid nitrogen and liquid propane at ambient pressure were measured using a carefully characterized thermocouple and the values incorporated as parameters in heat-transfer simulations to compare the efficiency of the plunge-freezing technique with the high-pressure freezing technique. Values of the heat-transfer coefficient in liquid nitrogen and liquid propane, calculated between 273 K and 173 K were 670 and 18420 W/m(2)/K, respectively. Based on TEM observations and the results of heat-transfer simulations, the HPF technique was adapted to the cryo-fixation of 50-microm-thick alginate gels. The occurrence of artifacts was rejected because no differences were observed in the pattern of cryo-fixed and freeze-substituted samples of various thickness, with and without ethanol as cryo-protectant. A sample thickness of 50 microm was found to ensure an adequate preservation of structures as small as a few nanometers, as verified by TEM and SEM observations. Finally, DSC measurements on alginate solutions and alginate beads revealed that under the experimental conditions (0-3%), alginate cannot be considered to be an efficient cryo-protectant., (Copyright 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Calcium alginate beads were thermally treated at temperatures ranging from 25 degrees C to 130 degrees C for periods of up to 30 minutes. Important modifications to the structure of the alginate beads were shown to be a function of the temperature and period of incubation at each temperature. Modifications to the alginate beads included reduction in size, mechanical resistance, and molecular weight cut-off with increasing temperature and incubation period. Thus, heating 700 microm calcium alginate beads for 20 min at 130 degrees C resulted in a 23% reduction in diameter, 70% increase in mechanical resistance, and 67% reduction in molecular weight cut-off. Incubation of calcium alginate beads containing 2 x 10(6) kDa blue dextran for 20 min at 130 degrees C resulted in no detectable loss of either dye or alginate. This indicates the shrinkage of the beads was due to re-arrangement of the alginate chains within the beads, coupled with loss of water. This hypothesis was verified by direct visual observation of calcium alginate beads before and after thermal treatment using cryo-scanning electron microscopy (cryo-SEM). Unlike other microscopy methods cryo-SEM offers the advantage of extremely rapid freezing which preserves the original structure of the alginate network. As a result cryo-SEM is a powerful tool for studies of hydrogel and capsule structure and formation. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) showed that the water entrapped in 2% alginate beads was present in a single state, irrespective of the thermal treatment. This result is attributed to the low alginate concentration used to form the beads., (Copyright 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Spores of Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6051 and Bacillus stearothermophilus NCTC 10003 were immobilized in monodisperse alginate beads (diameter, 550 microm +/- 5%), and the capacity of the immobilized bioindicators to provide accurate and reliable F-values for sterilization processes was studied. The resistance of the beads to abrasion and heat was strong enough to ensure total retention of the bioindicators in the beads in a sterilization cycle. D- and z-values for free spores were identical to those for immobilized spores, which shows that immobilization does not modify the thermal resistance of the bioindicators. A D(100 degrees C) value of 1.5 min was found for free and immobilized B. subtilis spores heated in demineralized water, skimmed milk, and milk containing 4% fat, suggesting that a lipid concentration as low as 4% does not alter the thermal resistance of B. subtilis spores. Providing that the pH range is kept between 3.4 to 10 and that sufficiently low concentrations of Ca2+ competitors or complexants are present in the medium, immobilized bioindicators may serve as an efficient, accurate, and reliable tool with which to validate the efficiency of any sterilization process. The environmental factors (pH, media composition) affecting the thermoresistance of native contaminants are intrinsically reflected in the F-value, allowing for a sharper adjustment of the sterilization process. Immobilized spores of B. stearothermophilus were successfully used to validate a resonance and interference microwave system that is believed to offer a convenient alternative for the sterilization of temperature-sensitive products and medical wastes.

An encapsulation device, designed on the basis of the laminar jet break-up technique, is characterized for cell immobilization with different types of alginate. The principle of operation of the completely sterilizable encapsulator, together with techniques for the continuous production of beads from 250 microm to 1 mm in diameter, with a size distribution below 5%, at a flow rate of 1-15 mL/min, is described. A modification of the device, to incorporate an electrostatic potential between the alginate droplets and an internal electrode, results in enhanced monodispersity with no adverse effects on cell viability. The maximum cell loading capacity of the beads strongly depends on the nozzle diameter as well as the cells used. For the yeast Phaffia rhodozyma, it is possible to generate 700 microm alginate beads with an initial cell concentration of 1 x 10(8) cells/mL of alginate whereas only 1 x 10(6) cells/ml could be entrapped within 400 microm beads. The alginate beads have been characterized with respect to mechanical resistance and size distribution immediately after production and as a function of storage conditions. The beads remain stable in the presence of acetic acid, hydrochloric acid, water, basic water, and sodium ions. The latter stability applies when the ratio of sodium: calcium ions is less than 1/5. Complexing agents such as sodium citrate result in the rapid solubilization of the beads due to calcium removal. The presence of cells does not affect the mechanical resistance of the beads. Finally, the mechanical resistance of alginate beads can be doubled by treatment with 5-10 kDa chitosan, resulting in reduced leaching of cells., (Copyright 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.)