Porous microcarriers with pancreatic β cell aggregates loading for diabetic care

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) are characterized by hyperglycemia with pancreatic β cells deficiency, leading to subsequent acute and chronic complications. Effects in recent decades are the trend to develop advanced techniques for β cell culture, of which three-dimensional (3D) cell culture showed promising potentials. Herein, we generate the unique porous microcarriers with pancreatic β cell aggregates loading taking advantages of microfluidic double emulsion techniques. The microcarriers are made of the commixture of poly ethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) and gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA), in which GelMA could promote the biocompatibility of hybrid hydrogel effectively. Since the PEGDA refrain from cell adhesion due to its physical property and the filled biopolymer in the core could function as an extracellular matrix (ECM), cells are able to aggregate in the cores of microcarriers suffused with the biopolymer. Besides, the prompted efficiency of metabolic exchanges on account of the external/interconnected structure of microcarriers is proven to accelerate the accumulation of pancreatic β cell aggregates. It is demonstrated that the fabricated microcarriers with β cells loading provide improvements in the pancreatic function of insulin secretion. These features enable the application of the resultant microcarriers for islet organoid researches, offering an attractive treatment option for diabetes therapies.