Three-dimensional bioprinting of tissue constructs with live cells

Official URL: http://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b1586805 (Table of Contents)

Tissue engineering is an emerging multidisciplinary field to regenerate damaged or In this research work, novel bioprinting methodologies are developed to fabricate 3D artificial biological structures directly from computer models using live multicellular aggregates. Multicellular aggregates made out of at least two cell types from fibroblast, endothelial and smooth muscle cells are prepared and optimized. A semi-continuous bioprinting approach is proposed in order to extrude cylindrical multicellular aggregates through the bioprinter’s gladiseased tissues and organs. Traditional tissue engineering strategies involve seeding cells into porous scaffolds to regenerate tissue or organs. Bioprinting is a relatively new technology where living cells with or without biomaterials are printed layer-by-layer in order to create 3D living structures. ss micro-capillaries. The multicellular pellets are first aspirated into a capillary and then compressed to form a continuous cylindrical multicellular bioink. To overcome surface tension-driven droplet formation, the required compression ratio is calculated based on viscosity of cell suspensions. Using the developed biomodeling and path-planning methods, example vascular structures are bioprinted biomimetically from medical images. Based on the developed bioprinting strategies, multicellular aggregates and their support structures are bioprinted to form 3D tissue constructs with predefined shapes. The results show that the bioprinted 3D constructs fuse rapidly and have high cell viability after printing.