Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 21, 2026
Printing Thermoresponsive Reverse Molds for the Creation of Patterned Two-component Hydrogels for 3D Cell Culture
Published on: July 10, 2013
Characterisation of hyaluronic acid methylcellulose hydrogels for 3D bioprinting
Nicholas Law1, Brandon Doney1, Hayley Glover1
1Vascular Engineering Laboratory, Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, Nedlands, and Centre for Medical Research, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Perth, Australia; School of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
Abstract:
Hydrogels containing hyaluronic acid (HA) and methylcellulose (MC) have shown promising results for three dimensional (3D) bioprinting applications. However, several parameters influence the applicability bioprinting and there is scarce data in the literature characterising HAMC. We assessed eight concentrations of HAMC for printability, swelling and stability over time, rheological and structural behaviour, and viability of mesenchymal stem cells. We show that HAMC blends behave as viscous solutions at 4°C and have faster gelation times at higher temperatures, typically gelling upon reaching 37°C. We found the storage, loss and compressive moduli to be dependent on HAMC concentration and incubation time at 37°C, and show the compressive modulus to be strain-rate dependent. Swelling and stability was influenced by time, more so than pH environment. We demonstrated that mesenchymal stem cell viability was above 75% in bioprinted structures and cells remain viable for at least one week after 3D bioprinting. The mechanical properties of HAMC are highly tuneable and we show that higher concentrations of HAMC are particularly suited to cell-encapsulated 3D bioprinting applications that require scaffold structure and delivery of cells.
