Department of Chemistry, CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, Aveiro, 3810-193, Portugal. These authors contributed equally to this work. Authors to whom any correspondence should be addressed.
Biofabrication. 2020 May 15;12(3):035017. doi: 10.1088/1758-5090/ab8bc3.
Embedded bio-printing has fostered significant advances toward the fabrication of soft complex tissue-like constructs, by providing a physical support that allows the freeform shape maintenance within the prescribed spatial arrangement, even under gravity force. Current supporting materials still present major drawbacks for up-scaling embedded 3D bio-printing technology towards tissue-like constructs with clinically relevant dimensions. Herein, we report a a cost-effective and widely available supporting material for embedded bio-printing consisting on a continuous pseudo-plastic matrix of xanthan-gum (XG). This natural polisaccharide exhibits peculiar rheological properties that have enabled the rapid generation of complex volumetric 3D constructs with out-of-plane features. The freedom of design within the three orthogonal axes through the independent and controlled bio-printing process opens new opportunities to produce on demand large arbitrary shapes for personalized medicine. Additionally, we have demonstrated the versatile functionality of XG as a photocurable gel reservoir to engineer perfused cell-laden hydrogel constructs, addressing other practical biomedical applications such as in vitro models and organ-on-chip platforms.
嵌入式生物打印技术通过提供物理支撑，允许在规定的空间排列内自由维持形状，即使在重力作用下也是如此，从而为软复杂组织样构建体的制造带来了重大进展。目前的支撑材料对于将嵌入式 3D 生物打印技术扩展到具有临床相关尺寸的组织样构建体仍然存在主要缺点。在这里，我们报告了一种用于嵌入式生物打印的具有成本效益且广泛可用的支撑材料，该材料由黄原胶（XG）的连续假塑性基质组成。这种天然多糖表现出特殊的流变性能，能够快速生成具有面外特征的复杂体积 3D 结构。通过独立和控制的生物打印过程在三个正交轴上进行设计的自由度为按需生产用于个性化医疗的大型任意形状开辟了新的机会。此外，我们还展示了 XG 作为光固化凝胶储库的多功能性，用于工程灌注细胞负载水凝胶构建体，解决了其他实际的生物医学应用，如体外模型和器官芯片平台。
