4th Annual Mountain West
Biomedical Engineering Conference

Partial oxygen pressure is emerging as a critical environmental parameter affecting cell behavior, but for many tissue engineering applications, particularly the culture of thick constructs in vitro, we lack the tools to control it. We previously reported the development of perfluorocarbon emulsions stabilized by diblock copolymers as oxygen carriers for use in perfusion bioreactors. We have since developed improved oxygen carriers of micellar construction with higher perfluorocarbon content from more economical starting materials. These exhibited a slower rate of pO2 decline from saturation upon exposure to ambient air than previous emulsions or perflubron-based emulsions extensively investigated as blood substitutes. Hyperoxic conditions were maintained for 12 hours. Average micelle diameters measured by dynamic light scattering ranged from 250 to 300 µm in solutions stored at 4º C for six weeks, and polydispersity remained below 0.25. Over the course of several hours, the dense (1.7 g/ml) micelles settled without coalescing and could be resuspended by agitation.