Validation and scalability of homemade polycaprolactone macrobeads grafted with thermo‐responsive poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) for mesenchymal stem cell expansion and harvesting

In this study, polycaprolactone (PCL) macrobeads were prepared by an oil‐in‐water (o/w) emulsion solvent evaporation method with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) as an emulsifier and conjugated to poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) to be used as cell carriers with noninvasive cell detachment properties (thermo‐response). Following previous studies with PCL‐PNIPAAm carriers, our objectives were to confirm the successful conjugation on homemade macrobeads and to show the advantages of homemade production over commercial beads to control morphological, biological, and fluidization properties. The effects of PCL concentration on the droplet formation and of flow rate and PVA concentration on the size of the beads were demonstrated. The size of the beads, all spherical, ranged from 0.5 to 3.7 mm with four bead categories based on production parameters. The morphology and size of the beads were observed by scanning electron microscopy to show surface roughness enhancing cell attachment and proliferation compared to commercial beads. The functionalization steps with PNIPAAm were then characterized and confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersion spectroscopy. PNIPAAm‐grafted macrobeads allowed mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to spread and grow for up to 21 days. By reducing the temperature to 25°C, the MSCs were successfully detached from the PCL‐PNIPAAm beads as observed with fluorescence microscopy. Furthermore, we validated the scalability potential of both macrobeads production and conjugation with PCL, to produce easily kilograms of thermo‐responsive macrocarriers in a lab environment. This could help moving such approaches towards clinically and industrially relevant processes were cell expansion is needed at very large scale.