Division of Engineering in Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Plastic Surgery Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100144, P. R. China.
Sci Adv. 2022 Oct 28;8(43):eabq6900. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abq6900. Epub 2022 Oct 26.
Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting of vascular tissues that are mechanically and functionally comparable to their native counterparts is an unmet challenge. Here, we developed a tough double-network hydrogel (bio)ink for microfluidic (bio)printing of mono- and dual-layered hollow conduits to recreate vein- and artery-like tissues, respectively. The tough hydrogel consisted of energy-dissipative ionically cross-linked alginate and elastic enzyme-cross-linked gelatin. The 3D bioprinted venous and arterial conduits exhibited key functionalities of respective vessels including relevant mechanical properties, perfusability, barrier performance, expressions of specific markers, and susceptibility to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pseudo-viral infection. Notably, the arterial conduits revealed physiological vasoconstriction and vasodilatation responses. We further explored the feasibility of these conduits for vascular anastomosis. Together, our study presents biofabrication of mechanically and functionally relevant vascular conduits, showcasing their potentials as vascular models for disease studies in vitro and as grafts for vascular surgeries in vivo, possibly serving broad biomedical applications in the future.
三维（3D）生物打印的血管组织在机械和功能上与其天然对应物相当，这是一个尚未满足的挑战。在这里，我们开发了一种坚韧的双网络水凝胶（生物）墨水，用于微流控（生物）打印单层层和双层中空导管，分别模拟静脉和动脉样组织。坚韧的水凝胶由耗散能量的离子交联海藻酸钠和弹性酶交联明胶组成。3D 生物打印的静脉和动脉导管表现出各自血管的关键功能，包括相关的机械性能、可灌注性、屏障性能、特定标志物的表达以及对严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2 假病毒感染的易感性。值得注意的是，动脉导管显示出生理性的血管收缩和血管扩张反应。我们进一步探索了这些导管用于血管吻合的可行性。总之，我们的研究展示了机械和功能相关血管导管的生物制造，展示了它们作为体外疾病研究的血管模型以及体内血管手术移植物的潜力，未来可能在广泛的生物医学应用中发挥作用。
