Development of Printable Natural Cartilage Matrix Bioink for 3D Printing of Irregular Tissue Shape

In this study, cartilage acellular matrix (CAM)-based bioink was developed to fabricate functional biomolecule-containing scaffolds. The CAM provides an adequate cartilage tissue –favorable environment for chondrogenic differentiation of cells. Conventional manufacturing techniques such as salt leaching, solvent casting, gas forming, and freeze drying when applied to CAM-based scaffolds cannot precisely control the scaffold geometry for mimicking tissue shape. As an altern ative to the scaffold fabrication methods, 3D printing was recently introduced in the field of tissue engineering. 3D printing may better control the internal microstructure and external appearance because of the computer-assisted construction process. Hence, applications of the 3D printing technolo gy to tissue engineering are rapidly proliferating. Therefore, printable ECM-based bioink should be developed for 3D structure stratification. The aim of this study was to develop printable natural CAM bioink for 3D printing of a tissue of irregular shape. Silk fibroin was chosen to support the prin ting of the CAM powder because it can be physically cross-linked and its viscosity can be easily controlled. The newly developed CAM-silk bioink was evaluated regarding printability, cell viability, and tissue differentiation. Moreover, we successfully demonstrated 3D printing of a cartilage-shaped scaffold using only this CAM-silk bioink. Future studies should assess the efficacy ofin vivo implantation of 3D-print...
Source: Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine - Category: Biotechnology Source Type: research