#Shaping Implantable Medical devices to Avoid Immune system Tiny medical implants that can ferry drugs, cells, or other therapies safely to sites of disease are already seeing the light of day. Designing implantable devices that are ignored by the immune system can be a challenge, so we usually rely on materials that are naturally biocompatible. At MIT, researchers have discovered that the size and shape of implantable microparticles is also important as to whether the immune system will attack them. The team was developing implantable capsules that can hold pancreatic islet cells as a potential therapy for Type 1 diabetes. It was important for the researchers to minimize the scarring around the implanted capsules to allow them to interface with the perfusing blood and release insulin as needed. What investigators discovered is that spherical capsules 1. 5 millimeter in diameter were functional months after implantation in diabetic mice, while those that are smaller, at. 5 mm wide, were engulfed completely by scarring, preventing them from sensing blood sugar and releasing insulin. Similar results were achieved in nonhuman primates. They also tested different shaped devices made out of glass, polystyrene, stainless steel, and polycaprolactone, a polyester, showing that the shape matters as well as the size e
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