A highly printable and biocompatible hydrogel composite for direct printing of soft and perfusable vasculature-like structures

Vascularization is one major obstacle in bioprinting and tissue engineering. In order to create thick tissues or organs that can function like original body parts, the presence of a perfusable vascular system is essential. However, it is challenging to bioprint a hydrogel-based three-dimensional vas...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Suntornnond, Ratima, Tan, Edgar Yong Sheng, An, Jia, Chua, Chee Kai
Other Authors: School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/88047
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/44513
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
Description
Summary:Vascularization is one major obstacle in bioprinting and tissue engineering. In order to create thick tissues or organs that can function like original body parts, the presence of a perfusable vascular system is essential. However, it is challenging to bioprint a hydrogel-based three-dimensional vasculature-like structure in a single step. In this paper, we report a new hydrogel-based composite that offers impressive printability, shape integrity, and biocompatibility for 3D bioprinting of a perfusable complex vasculature-like structure. The hydrogel composite can be used on a non-liquid platform and is printable at human body temperature. Moreover, the hydrogel composite supports both cell proliferation and cell differentiation. Our results represent a potentially new vascularization strategy for 3D bioprinting and tissue engineering.