Advances in 3D Printing Tissue Engineering

A special issue of Bioengineering (ISSN 2306-5354). This special issue belongs to the section "Regenerative Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 May 2022) | Viewed by 9189

Special Issue Editor

American Dental Association & National Institute of Standard and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, USA
Interests: 3D printing; organ-on-a chip; vascularization; hard tissue; stem cells; tissue engineering; biomechanics; biomanufacturing; bone; skin; oral diseases

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This peer-reviewed Special Issue will provide an assessment of the current state-of-the-art regarding our understanding of the additive manufacturing technology for organ regeneration. Additive Manufacturing has been demonstrating the tremendous potential to engineer patient-specific biosynthetic grafts for tissue regeneration. This state-of-the-art technology involves the combination of living human cells and growth factors with biomaterials for fabricating complex functional tissues. This Special Issue on “Advances in 3D Printing Tissue Engineering” will, therefore, focus on original research papers and review articles dealing with cutting-edge technologies in 3D bioprinting, including future strategies for developing materials and 3D printed devices.The  major focus of this issue will be on the following categories:

  1. 3D printing approaches to build complex systems;
  2. Novel biochemical approaches to build complex cellular microenvironments;
  3. Development of biocompatible bioinks;
  4. Development of preclinical drug screening 3D printed platforms;
  5. 3D printed bio-sensors.

The issue will be of interest to biomaterials scientists, biomedical engineers and clinicians.

Dr. Stella Alimperti
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Bioengineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • 3D printing
  • biomanufacturing
  • 3D printed sensors
  • bioinks
  • 3D tissues
  • vascularization
  • hard tissue
  • soft tissue

Published Papers (3 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

16 pages, 2817 KiB  
Article
Decellularization of Full Heart—Optimizing the Classical Sodium-Dodecyl-Sulfate-Based Decellularization Protocol
by Reem Al-Hejailan, Tobias Weigel, Sebastian Schürlein, Constantin Berger, Futwan Al-Mohanna and Jan Hansmann
Bioengineering 2022, 9(4), 147; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/bioengineering9040147 - 01 Apr 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2003
Abstract
Compared to cell therapy, where cells are injected into a defect region, the treatment of heart infarction with cells seeded in a vascularized scaffold bears advantages, such as an immediate nutrient supply or a controllable and persistent localization of cells. For this purpose, [...] Read more.
Compared to cell therapy, where cells are injected into a defect region, the treatment of heart infarction with cells seeded in a vascularized scaffold bears advantages, such as an immediate nutrient supply or a controllable and persistent localization of cells. For this purpose, decellularized native tissues are a preferable choice as they provide an in vivo-like microenvironment. However, the quality of such scaffolds strongly depends on the decellularization process. Therefore, two protocols based on sodium dodecyl sulfate or sodium deoxycholate were tailored and optimized for the decellularization of a porcine heart. The obtained scaffolds were tested for their applicability to generate vascularized cardiac patches. Decellularization with sodium dodecyl sulfate was found to be more suitable and resulted in scaffolds with a low amount of DNA, a highly preserved extracellular matrix composition, and structure shown by GAG quantification and immunohistochemistry. After seeding human endothelial cells into the vasculature, a coagulation assay demonstrated the functionality of the endothelial cells to minimize the clotting of blood. Human-induced pluripotent-stem-cell-derived cardiomyocytes in co-culture with fibroblasts and mesenchymal stem cells transferred the scaffold into a vascularized cardiac patch spontaneously contracting with a frequency of 25.61 ± 5.99 beats/min for over 16 weeks. The customized decellularization protocol based on sodium dodecyl sulfate renders a step towards a preclinical evaluation of the scaffolds. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in 3D Printing Tissue Engineering)
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

14 pages, 3472 KiB  
Article
A Bioprinted Heart-on-a-Chip with Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes for Drug Evaluation
by Alan Faulkner-Jones, Victor Zamora, Maria P. Hortigon-Vinagre, Wenxing Wang, Marcus Ardron, Godfrey L. Smith and Wenmiao Shu
Bioengineering 2022, 9(1), 32; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/bioengineering9010032 - 13 Jan 2022
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3754
Abstract
In this work, we show that valve-based bioprinting induces no measurable detrimental effects on human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs). The aim of the current study was three-fold: first, to assess the response of hiPSC-CMs to several hydrogel formulations by measuring electrophysiological function; [...] Read more.
In this work, we show that valve-based bioprinting induces no measurable detrimental effects on human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs). The aim of the current study was three-fold: first, to assess the response of hiPSC-CMs to several hydrogel formulations by measuring electrophysiological function; second, to customise a new microvalve-based cell printing mechanism in order to deliver hiPSC-CMs suspensions, and third, to compare the traditional manual pipetting cell-culture method and cardiomyocytes dispensed with the bioprinter. To achieve the first and third objectives, iCell2 (Cellular Dynamics International) hiPSC-CMs were used. The effects of well-known drugs were tested on iCell2 cultured by manual pipetting and bioprinting. Despite the results showing that hydrogels and their cross-linkers significantly reduced the electrophysiological performance of the cells compared with those cultured on fibronectin, the bio-ink droplets containing a liquid suspension of live cardiomyocytes proved to be an alternative to standard manual handling and could reduce the number of cells required for drug testing, with no significant differences in drug-sensitivity between both approaches. These results provide a basis for the development of a novel bioprinter with nanolitre resolution to decrease the required number of cells and to automate the cell plating process. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in 3D Printing Tissue Engineering)
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

20 pages, 5134 KiB  
Article
Recapitulating the Angiogenic Switch in a Hydrogel-Based 3D In Vitro Tumor-Stroma Model
by Claudia Kuehlbach, Sabine Hensler and Margareta M. Mueller
Bioengineering 2021, 8(11), 186; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/bioengineering8110186 - 15 Nov 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2668
Abstract
To ensure nutrient and oxygen supply, tumors beyond a size of 1–2 mm3 need a connection to the vascular system. Thus, tumor cells modify physiological tissue homeostasis by secreting inflammatory and angiogenic cytokines. This leads to the activation of the tumor microenvironment [...] Read more.
To ensure nutrient and oxygen supply, tumors beyond a size of 1–2 mm3 need a connection to the vascular system. Thus, tumor cells modify physiological tissue homeostasis by secreting inflammatory and angiogenic cytokines. This leads to the activation of the tumor microenvironment and the turning of the angiogenic switch, resulting in tumor vascularization and growth. To inhibit tumor growth by developing efficient anti-angiogenic therapies, an in depth understanding of the molecular mechanism initiating angiogenesis is essential. Yet so far, predominantly 2D cell cultures or animal models have been used to clarify the interactions within the tumor stroma, resulting in poor transferability of the data obtained to the in vivo situation. Consequently, there is an abundant need for complex, humanized, 3D models in vitro. We established a dextran-hydrogel-based 3D organotypic in vitro model containing microtumor spheroids, macrophages, neutrophils, fibroblasts and endothelial cells, allowing for the analysis of tumor–stroma interactions in a controlled and modifiable environment. During the cultivation period of 21 days, the microtumor spheroids in the model grew in size and endothelial cells formed elongated tubular structures resembling capillary vessels, that appeared to extend towards the tumor spheroids. The tubular structures exhibited complex bifurcations and expanded without adding external angiogenic factors such as VEGF to the culture. To allow high-throughput screening of therapeutic candidates, the 3D cell culture model was successfully miniaturized to a 96-well format, while still maintaining the same level of tumor spheroid growth and vascular sprouting. The quantification of VEGF in the conditioned medium of these cultures showed a continuous increase during the cultivation period, suggesting the contribution of endogenous VEGF to the induction of the angiogenic switch and vascular sprouting. Thus, this model is highly suitable as a testing platform for novel anticancer therapeutics targeting the tumor as well as the vascular compartment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in 3D Printing Tissue Engineering)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop