Coaxial Electrohydrodynamic Bioprinting of Pre-vascularized Cell-laden Constructs for Tissue Engineering

Abstract

Recapitulating the vascular networks that maintain the delivery of nutrition, oxygen, and byproducts for the living cells within the three-dimensional (3D) tissue constructs is a challenging issue in the tissue-engineering area. Here, a novel coaxial electrohydrodynamic (EHD) bioprinting strategy is presented to fabricate thick pre-vascularized cell-laden constructs. The alginate and collagen/calcium chloride solution were utilized as the outer-layer and inner-layer bioink, respectively, in the coaxial printing nozzle to produce the core-sheath hydrogel filaments. The effect of process parameters (the feeding rate of alginate and collagen and the moving speed of the printing stage) on the size of core and sheath lines within the printed filaments was investigated. The core-sheath filaments were printed in the predefined pattern to fabricate lattice hydrogel with perfusable lumen structures. Endothelialized lumen structures were fabricated by culturing the core-sheath filaments with endothelial cells laden in the core collagen hydrogel. Multilayer core-sheath filaments were successfully printed into 3D porous hydrogel constructs with a thickness of more than 3 mm. Finally, 3D pre-vascularized cardiac constructs were successfully generated, indicating the efficacy of our strategy to engineer living tissues with complex vascular structures.

Leaf-venation-directed cellular alignment for macroscale cardiac constructs with tissue-like functionalities

“…The self-assembly of cell/matrix mixtures under the guidance of micropatterned micropillars further allowed for the generation of aligned cellular architectures in simple tissue models 22 , 23 , but such hydrogel-based tissues failed to recapitulate the biomimetic mechanical and cellular heterogeneity (e.g., vascular components) in a controllable manner. Recent advances in the bioprinting of cell/hydrogel bioinks have provided opportunities to fabricate cellular constructs with CMs and embedded vascular structures as predesigned architectures 24 – 26 . Still, printing tissue constructs with the in vivo-like highly aligned and densely packed cellular arrangement, microscale hierarchical vascular structure, and sufficient mechanical property remains challenging.…”

Bioprinting of Cardiac Tissue in Space: Where Are We?

“…used coaxial electrohydrodynamic bioprinting (EHD) to create thick prevascularized cell‐laden constructs. [ 50 ] All these studies demonstrated the potential of bioprinting in vascular tissue engineering and the formation of complex vascular networks in 3D structures. Thriving toward more controlled complexity, heart‐on‐chip systems also appeared.…”

Complexation‐Induced Resolution Enhancement Pleiotropic Small Diameter Vascular Constructs with Superior Antibacterial and Angiogenesis Properties

“…Small diameter artificial blood vessels produced by coaxial printing exhibit excellent biocompatibility, cell proliferation, and cell differentiation. [33,34] Alg-based artificial blood vessels prepared by coaxial printing are not only fast and easy to prepare but also have a significant improvement in cells proliferation. However, the problem is lack of mechanical properties and anticoagulability.…”