3D Bioprinting of Shear-Thinning Self-assembly Bioink

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting is an appealing approach for building tissues; however, bioprinting of mini-tissue blocks (i.e., spheroids) with precise control on their positioning in 3D space has been a major obstacle. Here, we unveil “aspiration-assisted bioprinting (AAB),” which enables picking and bioprinting biologics in 3D through harnessing the power of aspiration forces, and when coupled with microvalve bioprinting, it facilitated different biofabrication schemes including scaffold-based or scaffold-free bioprinting at an unprecedented placement precision, ~11% with respect to the spheroid size. We studied the underlying physical mechanism of AAB to understand interactions between aspirated viscoelastic spheroids and physical governing forces during aspiration and bioprinting. We bioprinted a wide range of biologics with dimensions in an order-of-magnitude range including tissue spheroids (80 to 600 μm), tissue strands (~800 μm), or single cells (electrocytes, ~400 μm), and as applications, we illustrated the patterning of angiogenic sprouting spheroids and self-assembly of osteogenic spheroids.

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Reinforcement of Shear Thinning Protein Hydrogels by Responsive Block Copolymer Self-Assembly

Advanced Functional Materials ◽

10.1002/adfm.201202034 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 23 (9) ◽

pp. 1182-1193 ◽

Cited By ~ 82

Author(s):

Matthew J. Glassman ◽

Jacqueline Chan ◽

Bradley D. Olsen

Keyword(s):

Block Copolymer ◽

Self Assembly ◽

Shear Thinning ◽

Protein Hydrogels

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Rationally Designed Self-assembling DNA Biomolecules as a Defined Biomaterial for 3D Bioprinting

Materials Horizons ◽

10.1039/d1mh01632f ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Budharaju Harshavardhan ◽

Allen Zennifer ◽

Swaminathan Sethuraman ◽

Arghya Paul ◽

Dhakshinamoorthy Sundaramurthi

Keyword(s):

Molecular Recognition ◽

High Precision ◽

Self Assembly ◽

3D Bioprinting ◽

Material Source ◽

Self Assembling ◽

Recognition Motifs

DNA has excellent features such as the presence of functional and targeted molecular recognition motifs, tailorable, defined material source, multifunctionality, high–precision molecular self–assembly, synthetic preparation, hydrophilicity and outstanding biocompatibility. Due...

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A Thermogelling Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Hydrogel with Excellent Printability, Shape Fidelity and Cytocompatibility for 3D Bioprinting

10.26434/chemrxiv.14447676.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Chen Hu ◽

Taufiq Ahmad ◽

Malik Salman Haider ◽

Lukas Hahn ◽

Philipp Stahlhut ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Block Copolymer ◽

Shear Thinning ◽

3D Bioprinting ◽

Hybrid Hydrogel ◽

Inorganic Hybrid

In this study, an advanced hybrid ink was developed, based on a thermogelling block copolymer, alginate and clay. The reversible thermogelling and shear thinning properties polymer acts at the same time as a fugitive material on the macromolecular level and facilitates the cell-laden extrusion based bioprinting. <br>

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3D Bioprinting of shear-thinning hybrid bioinks with excellent bioactivity derived from gellan/alginate and thixotropic magnesium phosphate-based gels

Journal of Materials Chemistry B ◽

10.1039/d0tb00060d ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 (25) ◽

pp. 5500-5514 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

You Chen ◽

Xiong Xiong ◽

Xin Liu ◽

Rongwei Cui ◽

Chen Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sodium Alginate ◽

Shear Thinning ◽

Gellan Gum ◽

Magnesium Phosphate ◽

Mechanical Support ◽

3D Bioprinting

A novel shear-thinning hybrid bioink with good printability, mechanical support, biocompatibility, and bioactivity was developed by combining gellan gum, sodium alginate, and thixotropic magnesium phosphate-based gel (GG–SA/TMP-BG).

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Experimental Study and Analytical model of Shear Thinning in 3D Bioprinting of Gelatin

Tribology in Industry ◽

10.24874/ti.964.09.20.09 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 42 (3) ◽

pp. 503-512

Author(s):

N. Busarac ◽

Ž. Jovanović ◽

S. Njezić ◽

F. Živić ◽

N. Grujović ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Experimental Study ◽

Analytical Model ◽

Shear Thinning ◽

3D Bioprinting

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3D bioprinting of bicellular liver lobule-mimetic structures via microextrusion of cellulose nanocrystal-incorporated shear-thinning bioink

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-77146-3 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Yun Wu ◽

Andrew Wenger ◽

Hossein Golzar ◽

Xiaowu (Shirley) Tang

Keyword(s):

Cell Function ◽

Cell Damage ◽

Polymer Concentration ◽

Cell Types ◽

Shear Thinning ◽

Biological Tissues ◽

Cellulose Nanocrystal ◽

3D Bioprinting ◽

Liver Lobule ◽

Nih 3T3

Abstract3D bioprinting of living cellular constructs with heterogeneity in cell types and extra cellular matrices (ECMs) matching those of biological tissues remains challenging. Here, we demonstrate that, through bioink material design, microextrusion-based (ME) bioprinting techniques have the potential to address this challenge. A new bioink employing alginate (1%), cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) (3%), and gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) (5%) (namely 135ACG hybrid ink) was formulated for the direct printing of cell-laden and acellular architectures. The 135ACG ink displayed excellent shear-thinning behavior and solid-like properties, leading to high printability without cell damage. After crosslinking, the ACG gel can also provide a stiff ECM ideal for stromal cell growth. By controlling the degree of substitution and polymer concentration, a GelMA (4%) bioink was designed to encapsulate hepatoma cells (hepG2), as GelMA gel possesses the desired low mechanical stiffness matching that of human liver tissue. Four different versions of to-scale liver lobule-mimetic constructs were fabricated via ME bioprinting, with precise positioning of two different cell types (NIH/3T3 and hepG2) embedded in matching ECMs (135ACG and GelMA, respectively). The four versions allowed us to exam effects of mechanical cues and intercellular interactions on cell behaviors. Fibroblasts thrived in stiff 135ACG matrix and aligned at the 135ACG/GelMA boundary due to durotaxis, while hepG2 formed spheroids exclusively in the soft GelMA matrix. Elevated albumin production was observed in the bicellular 3D co-culture of hepG2 and NIH/3T3, both with and without direct intercellular contact, indicating that improved hepatic cell function can be attributed to soluble chemical factors. Overall, our results showed that complex constructs with multiple cell types and varying ECMs can be bioprinted and potentially useful for both fundamental biomedical research and translational tissue engineering.

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Towards the Experimentally-Informed In Silico Nozzle Design Optimization for Extrusion-Based Bioprinting of Shear-Thinning Hydrogels

Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology ◽

10.3389/fbioe.2021.701778 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Esther Reina-Romo ◽

Sourav Mandal ◽

Paulo Amorim ◽

Veerle Bloemen ◽

Eleonora Ferraris ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Shear Stress ◽

Cell Viability ◽

Cell Survival ◽

Material Properties ◽

In Silico ◽

Shear Thinning ◽

Nozzle Geometry ◽

3D Bioprinting ◽

Printing Process ◽

Constant Flow Rate

Research in bioprinting is booming due to its potential in addressing several manufacturing challenges in regenerative medicine. However, there are still many hurdles to overcome to guarantee cell survival and good printability. For the 3D extrusion-based bioprinting, cell viability is amongst one of the lowest of all the bioprinting techniques and is strongly influenced by various factors including the shear stress in the print nozzle. The goal of this study is to quantify, by means of in silico modeling, the mechanical environment experienced by the bioink during the printing process. Two ubiquitous nozzle shapes, conical and blunted, were considered, as well as three common hydrogels with material properties spanning from almost Newtonian to highly shear-thinning materials following the power-law behavior: Alginate-Gelatin, Alginate and PF127. Comprehensive in silico testing of all combinations of nozzle geometry variations and hydrogels was achieved by combining a design of experiments approach (DoE) with a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) of the printing process, analyzed through a machine learning approach named Gaussian Process. Available experimental results were used to validate the CFD model and justify the use of shear stress as a surrogate for cell survival in this study. The lower and middle nozzle radius, lower nozzle length and the material properties, alone and combined, were identified as the major influencing factors affecting shear stress, and therefore cell viability, during printing. These results were successfully compared with those of reported experiments testing viability for different nozzle geometry parameters under constant flow rate or constant pressure. The in silico 3D bioprinting platform developed in this study offers the potential to assist and accelerate further development of 3D bioprinting.

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