The applicability of furfuryl‐gelatin as a novel bioink for tissue engineering applications

Abstract

Three-dimensional bioprinting is an innovative technique in tissue engineering, to create layer-by-layer structures, required for mimicking body tissues. However, synthetic bioinks do not generally possess high printability and biocompatibility at the same time. So, there is an urgent need for naturally derived bioinks that can exhibit such optimized properties. We used furfuryl-gelatin as a novel, visible-light crosslinkable bioink for fabricating cell-laden structures with high viability. Hyaluronic acid was added as a viscosity enhancer and either Rose Bengal or Riboflavin was used as a visible-light crosslinker. Crosslinking was done by exposing the printed structure for 2.5 min to visible light and confirmed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and rheometry. Scanning electron microscopy revealed a highly porous networked structure. Three different cell types were successfully bioprinted within these constructs. Mouse mesenchymal stem cells printed within monolayer and bilayer sheets showed viability, network formation and proliferation (∼5.33 times) within 72 h of culture. C2C12 and STO cells were used to print a double layered structure, which showed evidence of the viability of both cells and heterocellular clusters within the construct. This furfuryl-gelatin based bioink can be used for tissue engineering of complex tissues and help in understanding how cellular crosstalk happens in vivo during normal or diseased pathology. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 2018.

Hydrogels for Bioprinting: A Systematic Review of Hydrogels Synthesis, Bioprinting Parameters, and Bioprinted Structures Behavior

“…In other studies, several modifications have been performed to enhance its properties. So, furfuryl-gelatin (f-gelatin) allows cross-linking with visible light (AnilKumar et al, 2019 ), but other studies combined with hyaluronic acid (Zhang K. et al, 2016 ; Shin et al, 2018 ; AnilKumar et al, 2019 ), GelMA (McBeth et al, 2017 ), cellulose (Xu X. et al, 2018 ), PEGDA (Aied et al, 2018 ), and PEG (Irvine et al, 2015 ). Additionally, it is also used in three-materials (Bandyopadhyay et al, 2018 ; Haring et al, 2019 ) and four-materials (Akkineni et al, 2016 ) hydrogels.…”

“…It appears alone in five papers (Mouser et al, 2017 ; Stichler et al, 2017 ; Lee et al, 2018 ; Wang et al, 2018 ; Kiyotake et al, 2019 ). Furthermore, there are three studies that use HA combined with gelatin (Zhang K. et al, 2016 ; Shin et al, 2018 ; AnilKumar et al, 2019 ) but other authors use GelMA (Schuurman et al, 2013 ; Noh et al, 2019 ), alginate/cellulose (Law et al, 2018 ), and chitosan (Kim et al, 2019 ). This material is modified in half of the papers, obtaining: hyaluronic acid methacrylated (HAMA) (Costantini et al, 2016 ; Mouser et al, 2017 ), acrylated-HA and tyramine-conjugated HA (Lee et al, 2018 ), dopamine-conjugated HA (Haring et al, 2019 ), and thiol functionalized HA (Stichler et al, 2017 ).…”

<p>Alginate Hydrogels with Embedded ZnO Nanoparticles for Wound Healing Therapy</p>

“…To assess and compare the dimensions of the pores within the 3D printed and manually casted gels, crosssectional images were obtained via SEM, as described in previously published studies. [30][31][32][33] Samples were crosslinked, placed in 193.15°K overnight, lyophilized, and sliced to reveal a cross-sectional area. These sections were sputter-coated (Gatan Model 682 Precision etching coating system, Pleasanton, CA, USA) and viewed with SEM (S-4800, Hitachi, Japan).…”

Engineered 3D Polymer and Hydrogel Microenvironments for Cell Culture Applications

“…For bioprinting of gelatin alone, biocompatibility was observed over 14 days, showing non-cytotoxicity despite the presence of residues from cross-linking agents [318]. Modified furfuryl-gelatin, which is crosslinkable by visible light, was formulated together with hyaluronic acid and riboflavin and showed to be a biocompatible bioink [331]. For the preparation of GelMA, care must be taken to remove all cytotoxic by-products.…”