Microcapsules and 3D customizable shelled microenvironments from laser direct-written microbeads

Microcapsules are shelled 3D microenvironments, with a liquid core. These core-shelled structures enable cell-cell contact, cellular proliferation and aggregation within the capsule, and can be utilized for controlled release of encapsulated contents. Traditional microcapsule fabrication methods provide limited control of capsule size, and are unable to control capsule placement. To overcome these limitations, we demonstrate size and spatial control of poly-l-lysine and chitosan microcapsules, using laser direct-write (LDW) printing, and subsequent processing, of alginate microbeads. Additionally, microbeads were used as volume pixels (voxels) to form continuous 3D hydrogel structures, which were processed like capsules, to form custom shelled aqueous-core 3D structures of prescribed geometry; such as strands, rings, and bifurcations. Heterogeneous structures were also created with controlled initial locations of different cell types, to demonstrate the ability to prescribe cell signaling (heterotypic and homotypic) in co-culture conditions. Herein, we demonstrate LDW's ability to fabricate intricate 3D structures, essentially with "printed macroporosity," and to precisely control structural composition by bottom-up fabrication in a bead-by-bead manner. The structural and compositional control afforded by this process enables the creation of a wide range of new constructs, with many potential applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2016;113: 2264-2274. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.