Electrospraying of Designer Alginates for the Production of Powder-Based Tissue Sealants

The tissue sealant industry has seen rapid development in new and exciting materials in the past 20 years. Synthetic and naturally sourced biopolymers have been extensively researched to address this call for an update to classical tissue sealant technique. These new materials seek to improve upon older methods such as staples, stitches, and glues by increasing biocompatibility, wound integration, and dynamicity. One biopolymer, alginate, has been gaining attention due to its inexpensive price, abundance in nature, and material properties that allow for improved sealant properties. Much like other naturally available biopolymers, alginate can be processed into glues, sheets, and powders. In regard to powder-based tissue sealants, it is theorized that the use of nano- and microparticles may be one of the best approaches as they allow for better extracellular matrix integration. An additional benefit of nano- and microparticle based tissue sealants is their ability to act as vessels for delivery of materials beneficial to the healing process. Current issues with nano- and microparticle manufacturing come in the form of high complexity, low yield, and low homogeneity. Electrospraying allows for a simplification and improvement to current particle manufacturing techniques. The purpose of this thesis is to prove the manufacturability of chemically modified alginate-based nano- and microparticles using the electrospray production method and resultingly establish a manufacturing protocol for each. Both methacrylated alginate, and alginate-β-cyclodextrin microparticles were shown to be manufacturable through electrospraying displaying average diameters of 319 μm and 276 μm respectively. These results provide promising insight into the future of tissue sealant technology