A Mucin‐Based Bio‐Ink for 3D Printing of Objects with Anti‐Biofouling Properties

Abstract

With its potential to revolutionize the field of personalized medicine by producing customized medical devices and constructs for tissue engineering at low costs, 3D printing has emerged as a highly promising technology. Recent advancements have sparked increasing interest in the printing of biopolymeric hydrogels. However, owing to the limited printability of those soft materials, the lack of variability in available bio‐inks remains a major challenge. In this study, a novel bio‐ink is developed based on functionalized mucin—a glycoprotein that exhibits a multitude of biomedically interesting properties such as immunomodulating activity and strong anti‐biofouling behavior. To achieve sufficient printability of the mucin‐based ink, its rheological properties are tuned by incorporating Laponite XLG as a stabilizing agent. It is shown that cured objects generated from this novel bio‐ink exhibit mechanical properties partially similar to that of soft tissue, show strong anti‐biofouling properties, good biocompatibility, tunable cell adhesion, and immunomodulating behavior. The presented findings suggest that this 3D printable bio‐ink has a great potential for a wide range of biomedical applications, including tissue engineering, wound healing, and soft robotics.

Laponite for biomedical applications: An ophthalmological perspective

“…Laponite's bactericidal action is due to bacteria aggregation (limited to Gram-negative bacteria as Laponite did not cause flocculation of Gram-positive Bacillus subtilis bacteria nor did it bind to lipoteichoic acid from bacterial envelopes) [ 75 ]. Finally, regarding tissue engineering and scaffolding, although Laponite helps, the limited printability of the soft materials remains a challenge [ 172 ]. As regards intraocular administration, although no explicit references to limitations were found, intravitreal injection was reported to produce a transient IOP increase at around 3 days, similar to other hydrogels [ 49 ].…”

Behavior of Self‐Disintegrating Microparticles at the Air/Mucus Interface

“…To obtain mucins that can form a gel at neutral pH (when exposed to UV light in the presence of a photo initiator), bovine submaxillary mucin (BSM, Sigma‐Aldrich) was modified with methacrylic anhydride (MA, Sigma‐Aldrich) according to an adapted version of the protocol described by Rickert et al [ 30 ] BSM was selected since it is reported to be the commercially available mucin source closest to the human mucin MUC5B. [ 31 ] This constitutes the dominant mucin species in the human lung expressed by secretory cells in submucosal glands and in the superficial airway epithelium.…”

3D Bioprinting with Visible Light Cross-Linkable Mucin-Hyaluronic Acid Composite Bioink for Lung Tissue Engineering

“…In a recent study, mucin has been used to 3D print objects with antibiofouling properties. 14 In recent times, mucin has emerged as a promising hydrogel material in diverse fields such as drug delivery, 15−17 cosmetics, 18,19 and wound healing, 20−22 showcasing its potential for innovative biomedical advancements. However, the inherent bonds of mucin alone are insufficient for this purpose.…”

“…These regions play a crucial role in modulating the growth and proliferation of cells . These glycosylated proteins also protect the tissues from infections due to their barrier properties and thus have been used as an antibiofouling material. − This inherent antibiofouling property affords them a competitive advantage over other biopolymers. In a recent study, mucin has been used to 3D print objects with antibiofouling properties …”