Bio-ceramic hollow fiber membranes for immunoisolation and gene delivery: I: Membrane development

Zirconia bio-ceramic hollow fiber membranes were developed using a sequence of mixing, extrusion, phase inversion and sintering steps. ZrO₂ partially stabilized by Y₂O₃ was chosen as the starting membrane material. The prepared membranes were characterized by SEM, EDX, XRD and gas permeation techniques. Effects of the starting ZrO₂ particle size and sintering temperature on the physical properties of the resulted hollow fiber membranes were extensively studied. Sintered at 1400 °C for 10 h, membranes made from 80 nm sized ZrO₂ particles display cubic fluorite as the major crystalline phase and give rise to interesting microstructure for cell response. Without any surface modification, this tailor-made membrane with high mechanical strength and pore size less than 1 μm was selected for further test of osteoblast attachment. In vitro bio-compatibility was evaluated by using mouse MC-3T3-E1 osteoblast cell culture. A series of cell interactions with fiber surface (i.e. cell adhesion, proliferation, formation of bone nodules, mineralization, etc.) verified the bio-compatibility of the prepared membranes.