3D Bioprinting of aortic structures with HDF cells

Traditionally, tissue engineering strategies for damaged or diseased large blood vessels are based on scaffolds. Following the cell-seeding and surgical implantation of scaffold, there could be immunogenic reactions and complications due to the limitations of scaffold biomaterials. Therefore, recent vascular tissue engineering studies tends to scaffold-free techniques [1, 2]. In this research, a novel biomimetic computer-aided design and three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting techniques are developed to optimize bioprinting of scaffold-free macrovascular structures biomimicking a real human aorta. Live human dermal fibroblast cells (HDF) aggregates and support structures (hydrogels) are 3D bioprinted layer-by-layer according to the developed self-supporting computer model to form biomimetic aortic vessel structures.