72 / 2018-06-28 19:08:24

3D Bioprinting of GelMA scaffolds with Nanoclay as Self-support

3D bioprinting; Tissue engineering scaffold; GelMA; Nanoclay; Printability

全体主题 > i. Novel additive manufacturing mechatronic systems, in particular, 3D bioprinting platforms

Photo-crosslinkable gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) has been widely used in tissue engineering becasue it has a rapid cross-linking property and excellent biological performance, and has become an attractive bioink material in 3D bioprinting. However, it is a great challenge to directly print GelMA using extrusion-based bioprinting due to its low viscosity. Here, a self-support strategy was developed to balance printability and biocompatibility. By blending GelMA with laponite nanoclay, 3D scaffolds with high shape fidelity was prefabricated using the yield-stress property of nanoclay, and irreversiblely solidified using the photo-crosslinking property of GelMA. In this study, printability of GelMA/laponite bioink concerning the process of extrusion of bioink, deposition of hydrogel filament, and fusion of 3D structures was systematically studied to obtain the fabrication window of printing parameters. The mechnical testing, SEM analysis, and degradation testing of these scaffolds were investigated, and the results indicated that addition of nanoclay could increase the mechanical strength, improve the porosity, and reduce the degradation rate. In addition, bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) were cultured on the scaffolds, and cell viabilty, cell proliferation, cell morphological analysis were carried out, and the results indicated that the scaffolds were favorable for cell attachment and growth. In a word, addition of nanoclay could improve the printability of GelMA and give an easy way to fabricate complex 3D scaffolds with perfect biological performance.