Biomanufacturing Center, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University; Biomanufacturing and Rapid Forming Technology Key Laboratory of Beijing.
Biomanufacturing Center, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University; Biomanufacturing and Rapid Forming Technology Key Laboratory of Beijing;
J Vis Exp. 2021 Apr 21(170). doi: 10.3791/62252.
Microcarriers are beads with a diameter of 60-250 µm and a large specific surface area, which are commonly used as carriers for large-scale cell cultures. Microcarrier culture technology has become one of the main techniques in cytological research and is commonly used in the field of large-scale cell expansion. Microcarriers have also been shown to play an increasingly important role in in vitro tissue engineering construction and clinical drug screening. Current methods for preparing microcarriers include microfluidic chips and inkjet printing, which often rely on complex flow channel design, an incompatible two-phase interface, and a fixed nozzle shape. These methods face the challenges of complex nozzle processing, inconvenient nozzle changes, and excessive extrusion forces when applied to multiple bioink. In this study, a 3D printing technique, called alternating viscous-inertial force jetting, was applied to enable the construction of hydrogel microcarriers with a diameter of 100-300 µm. Cells were subsequently seeded on microcarriers to form tissue engineering modules. Compared to existing methods, this method offers a free nozzle tip diameter, flexible nozzle switching, free control of printing parameters, and mild printing conditions for a wide range of bioactive materials.
微载体是一种直径为 60-250μm 的具有较大比表面积的小球，常用于大规模细胞培养的载体。微载体培养技术已成为细胞学研究的主要技术之一，广泛应用于大规模细胞扩增领域。微载体在体外组织工程构建和临床药物筛选中也发挥着越来越重要的作用。目前制备微载体的方法包括微流控芯片和喷墨打印，这些方法通常依赖于复杂的流道设计、不相容的两相界面和固定的喷嘴形状。这些方法在应用于多种生物墨水时面临着复杂喷嘴加工、喷嘴更换不便和挤出力过大的挑战。在本研究中，采用一种称为交替粘性惯性射流的 3D 打印技术，能够构建直径为 100-300μm 的水凝胶微载体。随后将细胞接种到微载体上，形成组织工程模块。与现有方法相比，该方法提供了自由的喷嘴尖端直径、灵活的喷嘴切换、对打印参数的自由控制以及对广泛的生物活性材料的温和打印条件。
