PRODUCTION VIA MICROFLUIDICS OF FIBRILLAR AND NANOMETRIC BIOMATERIALS FOR REGENERATIVE MEDICINE AND DRUG DELIVERY POURPOSES

Microfluidic technique offers mild operating conditions suitable for fabrication of fibers and cell encapsulation and can be applied for controlled production of nanometric biomaterials1 . Ionotropic polysaccharides are routinely employed for microfluidics. To be processed, nonionotropic polysaccharides, such as Hyaluronic Acid (HA), should be chemically crosslinked during fabrication2 . In order to avoid chemical crosslinking, we designed an ionic strenght sensible HA derivative suitable for microfluidics2 . Here we describe the use of such HA derivative for fabrication of fibrillar and nanometric biomaterials for regenerative medicine and drug delivery applications. For muscle tissue regeneration purposes, 3D microfibrillar scaffolds were produced and characterized as guidance for Aortic Smooth Muscle cells (AoSMCs). Nanoparticles were produced and characterized as drug delivery systhems for treatment of retinal angiogenic pathologies.