The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 26, 1992
Filed:
Mar. 25, 1991
William L Chick, Wellesley, MA (US);
Randall G Rupp, Sterling, MA (US);
W. R. Grace & Co.-Conn., New York, NY (US);
Abstract
A device which serves as an artificial pancreas comprises a hollow fiber which is surrounded by islets of Langerhans enclosed in a housing. The islets are suspended in a semi-gel matrix or supporting material that is sufficiently viscous to physically support and maintain location of the islets about the hollow fiber, but sufficiently fluid to enable removal of the islet suspension from the device, followed by reseeding or replacement with fresh islet suspension. The matrix in which the islets are suspended preferably comprises calcium sodium alginate. The semi-gel supporting material also enables long term maintenance of islet cells in in vitro culture.