Evaluation of different crosslinking methods in altering the properties of extrusion-printed chitosan-basedmulti-material hydrogel composites

Three-dimensional printing technologies exhibit tremendous potential in the advancing fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine due to the precise spatial control over depositing the biomaterial.Despite their widespread utilization and numerous advantages,the development of suitable novel biomaterials for extrusion-based 3D printing of scaffolds that support cell attachment,proliferation,and vascularization remains a challenge.Multi-material composite hydrogels present incredible potential in this field.Thus,in this work,a multi-material composite hydrogel with a promising formulation of chitosan/gelatin functionalized with egg white was developed,which provides good printability and shape fidelity.In addition,a series of comparative analyses of different crosslinking agents and processes based on tripolyphosphate(TPP),genipin(GP),and glutaraldehyde(GTA)were investigated and compared to select the ideal crosslinking strategy to enhance the physicochemical and biological properties of the fabricated scaffolds.All of the results indicate that the composite hydrogel and the resulting scaffolds utilizing TPP crosslinking have great potential in tissue engineering,especially for supporting neo-vessel growth into the scaffold and promoting angiogenesis within engineered tissues.

3D printing of patient-specific implants for osteochondral defects: workflow for an MRI-guided zonal design

Magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)is a common clinical practice to visualize defects and to distinguish different tissue types and pathologies in the human body.So far,MRI data have not been used to model and generate a patient-specific design of multilayered tissue substitutes in the case of interfacial defects.For orthopedic cases that require highly individual surgical treatment,implant fabrication by additive manufacturing holds great potential.Extrusion-based techniques like 3D plot-ting allow the spatially defined application of several materials,as well as implementation of bioprinting strategies.With the example of a typical multi-zonal osteochondral defect in an osteochondritis dissecans(OCD)patient,this study aimed to close the technological gap between MRI analysis and the additive manufacturing process of an implant based on dif-ferent biomaterial inks.A workflow was developed which covers the processing steps of MRI-based defect identification,segmentation,modeling,implant design adjustment,and implant generation.A model implant was fabricated based on two biomaterial inks with clinically relevant properties that would allow for bioprinting,the direct embedding of a patient’s own cells in the printing process.As demonstrated by the geometric compatibility of the designed and fabricated model implant in a stereolithography(SLA)model of lesioned femoral condyles,a novel versatile CAD/CAM workflow was successfully established that opens up new perspectives for the treatment of multi-zonal(osteochondral)defects.