Projection-based 3D bioprinting for hydrogel scaffold manufacturing

Projection-based 3D bioprinting(PBP):a powerful method to fabricate 3D cellular structures Three-dimensional(3D)bioprinting has played an important role in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine areas over the past decade[1].Different from traditional cell cultures in Petri dishes,3D bioprinting can build bionic structures with a better potential to become artificial organ substitutes[2–4].With the development of photocurable biomaterials,the projection-based 3D printing method has been successfully applied in biological research[5,6].

Facile 3D cell culture protocol based on photocurable hydrogels

Introduction Why 3D cell culture urgently needed?Tissue engineering has extremely influenced the development process of basic biological studies and biomedical technology.For quite a long time,the vast majority of these researches have been relying on the experimental results of conventional two-dimensional(2D)cell culture in flask,petri dish or well plate.However,these 2D culture results could be very different with or even totally opposite to the actual situations in vivo where cells grow inside a 3D extracellular matrix(ECM).Therefore,3D cell culture has been playing a more and more significant role because of its higher accuracy and authenticity[1–4].

Lightweight 3D bioprinting with point by point photocuring

As photocrosslinkable materials,methacryloyl-modified hydrogels are widely used as bioinks in tissue engineering.Existing printing methods to use these hydrogels,including changing the viscosity of the material or mixing them with other printing components,have been explored,but their application has been limited due to low printing quality or high cost.In addition,the complex operation of bulky equipment restricts the application of these existing printing methods.This study presents a lightweight stereolithography-based three-dimensional(3D)bioprinting system with a smart mechanical and structural design.The developed bioprinter dimensions were 300 mm×300 mm×200 mm and it can be placed on a benchtop.The equipment has a mini bioink chamber to store a small amount of bioink for each printing.We systematically investigated the point-by-point curing process in the 3D bioprinting method,which can print mixed cells accurately and have good biocompatibility.Here,we provide a compact,low-cost stereolithography bioprinting system with excellent biocompatibility for 3D bioprinting with methacryloyl-modified hydrogels.It can be potentially used for drug screening,studying pathological mechanisms,and constructing biological disease models.