macroencapsulation

macroencapsulation

[‚mak·rō·in‚kap·sə′lā·shən] (cell and molecular biology) The envelopment of a large mass of xenotransplanted cells or tissue in planar membranes, hollow fibers, or diffusion chambers to isolate the cells from the body, thereby avoiding the immune responses that the foreign cells could initiate, and also to allow the desired metabolites (such as insulin and glucose for pancreatic islet cells) to diffuse in and out of the membrane.