A simple and high-resolution stereolithography-based 3D bioprinting system using visible light crosslinkable bioinks

Abstract

Bioprinting is a rapidly developing technique for biofabrication. Because of its high resolution and the ability to print living cells, bioprinting has been widely used in artificial tissue and organ generation as well as microscale living cell deposition. In this paper, we present a low-cost stereolithography-based bioprinting system that uses visible light crosslinkable bioinks. This low-cost stereolithography system was built around a commercial projector with a simple water filter to prevent harmful infrared radiation from the projector. The visible light crosslinking was achieved by using a mixture of polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) and gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) hydrogel with eosin Y based photoinitiator. Three different concentrations of hydrogel mixtures (10% PEG, 5% PEG + 5% GelMA, and 2.5% PEG + 7.5% GelMA, all w/v) were studied with the presented systems. The mechanical properties and microstructure of the developed bioink were measured and discussed in detail. Several cell-free hydrogel patterns were generated to demonstrate the resolution of the solution. Experimental results with NIH 3T3 fibroblast cells show that this system can produce a highly vertical 3D structure with 50 μm resolution and 85% cell viability for at least five days. The developed system provides a low-cost visible light stereolithography solution and has the potential to be widely used in tissue engineering and bioengineering for microscale cell patterning.

Gelatin-based hydrogels for biomedical applications

“…Furthermore, a grid structure and a university logo cell construct were printed in eight separate manually applied layers. [24] Cross-linking by two-photon polymerization Rapid prototyping approaches [25,26] (e.g., stereolithography, electrospinning, and 3D fiber deposition modeling) have garnered attention for fabricating materials for tissue engineering and other biomedical applications. However, those techniques have lower resolution and are not effectively used to mimic features of the architecture of the natural cells and/or tissues.…”

3D Miniaturization of Human Organs for Drug Discovery

“…[82] Other technologies have also been adapted to 3D bioprinting including stereolithography. [146][147][148][149][150][151] …”

Bioprinting: Uncovering the Utility Layer-By-Layer

“…These systems can print structures with 50-μm resolution [52], and produce constructs with more than 90% cell viability [53]. Projection stereolithographic Reproduced with permission from Elsevier Ltd [46].…”

“…Review Burke, Carter & Perriman t echnology allows a complete layer to be printed at once, and so print times depend only on layer thickness [52].…”

“…Although 2-hydroxy-1-[4-(hydroxyethoxy)phenyl]-2-methyl-1-propanone (Irgacure 2959) has been shown to cause minimal cell death across several cell types [54], the UV light irradiation required for cross-linking can have adverse effects on viability and proliferation, and can cause DNA damage [55]. Accordingly, Wang et al developed a visible, light-sensitive photocurable bioink containing 2′,4′,5′,7′-tetrabromofluorescein disodium salt (eosin y) as a photoinitiator (Abs max @ 517 nm) to m itigate this risk [52].…”