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The field of microencapsulation has found increasing application since its industrial debut in carbonless copying paper some fifty years ago. Microencapsulated materials are found in a wide variety of technical, agricultural, food, and household products. There have been many methods developed for microencapsulation: from reverse-phase evaporation into liposomes to coacervation into polymeric microspheres. Previously, Suslick and coworkers have used high-intensity ultrasound to generate nonaqueous-filled serum albumin microspheres. The mechanism involved the oxidation of cysteine residues by sonochemically generated superoxide to form disulfide bonds.
We have now extended this work to form a variety of other proteinaceous microspheres including air-filled hemoglobin (Hb), fluorocarbon-filled bovine serum albumin (BSA), and aqueous-filled lipase microspheres. The microspheres can be sonochemically generated in high yield ($\approx$10$\sp9$ microspheres/ml) with a narrow size distribution ($\approx$2-4 $\mu$m). The microspheres are stable over six months at 4$\sp\circ$C with minimal degradation ($<$25%). The formation of these microspheres has been confirmed to involve superoxide (produced from sonolysis of water) oxidizing cysteine residues. From circular dichroism studies, the protein structure has not been significantly altered after sonication. More remarkably, protein functionality has been retained (and in some cases enhanced) upon microsphere formation.
This thesis begins with an extensive review on microencapsulation; more specifically, the synthesis and applications of nanoparticles, liposomes, and microspheres are discussed. The subsequent chapters are divided into the types of microspheres synthesized and its applications. In addition, brief reviews on blood substitutes, fluorine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and drug delivery are provided as an introduction to the hemoglobin, fluorocarbon, and other protein microsphere chapters, respectively.
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