Progress of 3D Bioprinting in Organ Manufacturing

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting is a family of rapid prototyping technologies, which assemble biomaterials, including cells and bioactive agents, under the control of a computer-aided design model in a layer-by-layer fashion. It has great potential in organ manufacturing areas with the combination of biology, polymers, chemistry, engineering, medicine, and mechanics. At present, 3D bioprinting technologies can be used to successfully print living tissues and organs, including blood vessels, skin, bones, cartilage, kidney, heart, and liver. The unique advantages of 3D bioprinting technologies for organ manufacturing have improved the traditional medical level significantly. In this article, we summarize the latest research progress of polymers in bioartificial organ 3D printing areas. The important characteristics of the printable polymers and the typical 3D bioprinting technologies for several complex bioartificial organs, such as the heart, liver, nerve, and skin, are introduced.

Application of 3D Bioprinting in Urology

“…At the same time, 3D bioprinting technology is also a multidisciplinary cross-application technology, requiring the integration of cell biology, computers, materials, information, chemistry, mechanics, engineering, manufacturing, medicine and other scientific and technological fields of talent. At present, there are still some technical difficulties in 3D bioprinting technology, and only through continuous research breakthroughs will it be possible to apply 3D bioprinting to a wide range of clinical applications and bring benefits to patients [ 6 , 15 , 16 , 106 , 107 ].…”

“…Three-dimensional printing, first described in the 1990s, has found an increasing application in all fields of urology. Initially, 3D printing technology begun to influence the field of urologic surgery, from creating 3D models for medical stuff training, surgical planning and patient education to manufacturing implants and personalized prostheses [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]. The 3D-printed urological models are presented in Figure 1 .…”

Nanomedicine, a valuable tool for skeletal muscle disorders: Challenges, promises, and limitations

“…Advanced microfluidics techniques, such as rapid prototyping and bioprinting, also have the potential of building biomimetic 3D structures, and have been explored in different areas of tissue engineering, including skeletal muscle regeneration (Ostrovidov et al, 2019 ). 3D bioprinting can be used to fabricate 3D structures made of natural or artificial polymers (i.e., collagen, fibrin, nanofibers) and containing cells and bioactive molecules in a predesigned structure (Song et al, 2021 ; Zhuang et al, 2020 ). It has several advantages compared to other tissue engineering strategies.…”

3D Bioprinting for Pancreas Engineering/Manufacturing

“…3D bioprinting is a fully automatic layer-by-layer additive manufacturing process, which can deposit cells, growth factors, and other biomaterials through rapid prototyping (RP) technologies to fabricate bioartificial tissues and organs with multicellular components, hierarchical structures (especially branching vascular networks), and complex functions [ 48 , 49 ]. Currently, 3D bioprinting technologies have been successfully used to print many living tissues and organs [ 12 ], including blood vessels [ 50 ], skins [ 51 ], bones [ 52 ], cartilages [ 53 ], hearts [ 54 ], and livers [ 55 ]. Most of the 3D bioprinting technologies used for producing bioartificial pancreases belong to inkjet 3D printing, fused deposition modeling (FDM), extrusion-based 3D printing, and UV curing-based 3D printing [ 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 ].…”

“…Different types of cells can be encapsulated in different polymeric ‘bioinks’ and deposited simultaneously through multi-nozzle 3D printers. The hydrogels can absorb and retain large amounts of water, which is beneficial for cell growth, proliferation, differentiation, and tissue/organ formation [ 12 ]. The advanced 3D bioprinting technologies represent a high potential for pancreas constructions and type 1 diabetes therapies.…”