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Ceramic Omnidirectional Bioprinting in Cell-Laden Suspensions for the Generation of Bone Analogs
Published on: August 8, 2022
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A bioprintable form of chitosan hydrogel for bone tissue engineering
Tuğrul Tolga Demirtaş1, Gülseren Irmak1, Menemşe Gümüşderelioğlu1,2
1Hacettepe University, Bioengineering Department 06800, Beytepe, Ankara, Turkey.
Biofabrication
|June 23, 2017
Summary
Chitosan and its composite with hydroxyapatite show superior performance in 3D bioprinting for bone tissue engineering compared to alginate. These bio-inks support cell viability, proliferation, and osteogenic differentiation, enabling controlled bone regeneration.
Area of Science:
- Bioprinting
- Tissue Engineering
- Biomaterials
Background:
- Bioprinting utilizes 3D patterning of living cells and biologics for fabricating tissue analogs.
- Bio-inks containing cells offer potential for printing bone tissue constructs for regeneration and remineralization.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the printability and efficacy of chitosan and chitosan-hydroxyapatite (HA) bio-inks for bone tissue engineering.
- To compare chitosan-based bio-inks with traditional alginate-based bio-inks.
Main Methods:
- Extruder-based 3D bioprinting of MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblast cells within chitosan, chitosan-HA, alginate, and alginate-HA hydrogels.
- Characterization using rheological analysis, stability tests, cell viability, proliferation, and osteogenic marker expression analysis.
Main Results:
- Chitosan and chitosan-HA hydrogels demonstrated suitable viscoelastic properties and stability for bioprinting.
- Cells encapsulated in chitosan-HA hydrogels exhibited peak expression of osteogenic markers.
- Chitosan-based hydrogels supported superior cell proliferation and differentiation compared to alginate.
- Incorporation of nanostructured HA enhanced cell viability, proliferation, and osteogenic differentiation in both chitosan and alginate hydrogels.
Conclusions:
- Chitosan and chitosan-HA hydrogels are effective and printable bio-inks for bone tissue engineering.
- Chitosan demonstrates advantages over alginate for cell proliferation and osteogenic differentiation.
- Nanostructured HA incorporation significantly improves the biological performance of bio-inks for bone regeneration.

