3D Bioplotter Research Papers

Background There is a great clinical need and it remains a challenge to develop artificial soft tissue constructs that can mimic the biomechanical properties and bioactivity of natural tissue. This is partly due to the lack of suitable biomaterials. Hydrogels made from human placenta offer high bioactivity and represent a potential solution to create animal-free 3D bioprinting systems that are both sustainable and acceptable, as placenta is widely considered medical waste. A combination with silk and gelatin polymers can bridge the biomechanical limitations of human placenta chorion extracellular matrix hydrogels (hpcECM) while maintaining their excellent bioactivity.   Method In this…

Regenerative biomaterials play a crucial role in the success of maxillofacial reconstructive procedures. Yet today, limited options are available when choosing polymeric biomaterials to treat critical size bony defects. Further, there is a requirement for 3D printable regenerative biomaterials to fabricate customized structures confined to the defect site. We present here a 3D printable composite formulation consisting of polycaprolactone (PCL) and silk fibroin microfibers and have established a robust protocol for fabricating customized 3D structures of complex geometry with the composite. The 3D printed composite scaffolds demonstrated higher compressive modulus than 3D printed scaffolds of PCL alone. Furthermore, the compressive…

The development of 3D printing techniques has provided a promising platform to study tissue engineering and mechanobiology; however, the pursuit of printability limits the possibility of tailoring scaffolds’ mechanical properties. The brittleness of those scaffolds also hinders potential clinical application. To overcome these drawbacks, a double-network ink composed of only natural biomaterials is developed. A shear-thinning hydrogel made of silk fibroin (SF) and methacrylated hyaluronic acid (MAHA) presents a high mechanical modulus with a low concentration of macromers. The physical cross-linking due to protein folding further increases the strength of the scaffolds. The proposed SF/MAHA scaffold exhibits a storage modulus…

Hydrogel scaffolds are attractive for tissue defect repair and reorganization because of their human tissue-like characteristics. However, most hydrogels offer limited cell growth and tissue formation ability due to their submicron- or nano-sized gel networks, which restrict the supply of oxygen, nutrients and inhibit the proliferation and differentiation of encapsulated cells. In recent years, 3D printed hydrogels have shown great potential to overcome this problem by introducing macro-pores within scaffolds. In this study, we fabricated a macroporous hydrogel scaffold through horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-mediated crosslinking of silk fibroin (SF) and tyramine-substituted gelatin (GT) by extrusion-based low-temperature 3D printing. Through physicochemical characterization,…

3D printing/bioprinting are promising techniques to fabricate scaffolds with well controlled and patient-specific structures and architectures for bone tissue engineering. In this study, we developed a composite bioink consisting of silk fibroin (SF), gelatin (GEL), hyaluronic acid (HA), and tricalcium phosphate (TCP) and 3D bioprinted the silk fibroin-based hybrid scaffolds. The 3D bioprinted scaffolds with dual crosslinking were further treated with human platelet-rich plasma (PRP) to generate PRP coated scaffolds. Live/Dead and MTT assays demonstrated that PRP treatment could obviously promote the cell growth and proliferation of human adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells (HADMSC). In addition, the treatment of PRP…

One of the latest trends in the regenerative medicine is the development of 3D-printing hydrogel scaffolds with biomimetic structures for tissue regeneration and organ reconstruction. However, it has been practically difficult to achieve a highly biomimetic hydrogel scaffolds with proper mechanical properties matching the natural tissue. Here, bacterial cellulose nanofibers (BCNFs) were applied to improve the structural resolution and enhance mechanical properties of silk fibroin (SF)/gelatin composite hydrogel scaffolds. The SF-based hydrogel scaffolds with hierarchical pores were fabricated via 3D-printing followed by lyophilization. Results showed that the tensile strength of printed sample increased significantly with the addition of BCNFs in…

The fabrication of bone tissue engineering scaffolds with high osteogenic ability and favorable mechanical properties is of huge interest. In this study, a silk fibroin (SF) solution of 30 wt% was extracted from cocoons and combined with mesoporous bioactive glass (MBG) to fabricate MBG/SF composite scaffolds by 3D printing. The porosity, compressive strength, degradation and apatite forming ability were evaluated. The results illustrated that MBG/SF scaffolds had superior compressive strength (ca. 20 MPa) and good biocompatibility, and stimulated bone formation ability compared to mesoporous bioactive glass/polycaprolactone (MBG/PCL) scaffolds. We subcutaneously transplanted hBMSCs-loaded MBG/SF and MBG/PCL scaffolds into the back of nude mice…

Lower back pain (LBP), which is strongly associated with intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration, is one of the most frequently reported age- and work-related disorder in actual society, leading to a huge socio-economic impact worldwide. The current treatments have poor clinical outcomes and do not consider each patient needs. Thus, there is a growing interest in the potential of personalized cell-based tissue engineering (TE) approaches aimed to regenerate the damaged IVD and efficiently restore full disc function. In this work, a bioink composed by silk fibroin (SF) hydrogel combined with elastin was used to bioprint patient-specific substitutes mimicking IVD ultrastructure, in…

In an attempt to fabricate biomimetic bone repair scaffolds and improve bone regeneration point of view, we have three dimensionally printed porous scaffolds with biomineralized hydroxyapatite/silk fibroin nanocomposites. SF/HA composite particles were firstly produced via an in-situ mineral precipitation process when SF molecules were served as templates.. Microscopy observations of SF/HA showed homogeneous morphology and narrowly distributed size. By using sodium alginate (SA) as paste binder, scaffolds with different contents of SF/HA were subsequently 3D-printed under proper conditions. All the scaffolds were porous with 3D interconnected large pores (size ～400 μm) and an overall porosity about 70%, combined with a relative…

The pursuit for the “perfect” biomimetic and personalized implant for musculoskeletal tissue regeneration remains a big challenge. 3D printing technology that makes use of a novel and promising biomaterials can be part of the solution. In this study, a fast setting enzymatic-crosslinked silk fibroin (SF) bioink for 3D bioprinting is developed. Their properties are fine-tuned and different structures with good resolution, reproducibility, and reliability can be fabricated. Many potential applications exist for the SF bioinks including 3D bioprinted scaffolds and patient-specific implants exhibiting unique characteristics such as good mechanical properties, memory-shape feature, suitable degradation, and tunable pore architecture and morphology.