Düregger Katharina, Trik Sina, Leonhardt Stefan, Eblenkamp Markus
Institute of Medical and Polymer Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Garching, Germany.
J Biomater Appl. 2018 Jul;33(1):116-126. doi: 10.1177/0885328218780460. Epub 2018 Jun 6.
Microscale porous membranes are used in a wide range of technical and medical applications such as water treatment, dialysis and in vitro test systems. A promising approach to control membrane properties and overcome limitations of conventional fabrication techniques is given by additive manufacturing (AM). In this study, we designed and printed a microporous membrane via digital light processing and validated its use for biomedical in vitro applications based on the example of a cell culture insert. A multi-layer technique was developed, resulting in an eight-layer membrane with an average pore diameter of 25 µm. Image analyses proved the printing accuracy to be high with small deviations for an increasing number of layers. Permeability tests with brilliant blue FCF (E133, triarylmethane dye) and growth factors comparing the printed to track-etched membranes showed similar transfer dynamics and confirmed sufficient separation properties. Overall, the results showed that printing microporous polymer membranes is possible and highlight the potential of AM for biomedical in vitro applications such as cell culture inserts, scaffolds for tissue engineering or bioreactors.
微尺度多孔膜被广泛应用于各种技术和医学领域，如水处理、透析和体外测试系统。增材制造（AM）为控制膜性能和克服传统制造技术的局限性提供了一种很有前景的方法。在本研究中，我们通过数字光处理设计并打印了一种微孔膜，并以细胞培养插入物为例验证了其在生物医学体外应用中的用途。开发了一种多层技术，制成了平均孔径为25 µm的八层膜。图像分析证明，随着层数增加，打印精度很高且偏差很小。用亮蓝FCF（E133，三芳基甲烷染料）和生长因子进行的渗透性测试表明，与径迹蚀刻膜相比，打印膜具有相似的传输动力学，证实了其具有足够的分离性能。总体而言，结果表明打印微孔聚合物膜是可行的，并突出了增材制造在生物医学体外应用中的潜力，如细胞培养插入物、组织工程支架或生物反应器。
