Development of Bioink from Decellularized Tendon Extracellular Matrix for 3D Bioprinting

Using decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) hydrogels as bioinks has been an important step forward for bioprinting of functional tissue constructs, considering their rich microenvironment and their high degree of biomimicry. However, directly using dECM hydrogels as bioinks may not be suitable for bioprinting processes because of the loss of shape fidelity and geometrical precision of bioprinted structure due to their slow gelation kinetics. In this article, the development and direct bioprinting of dECM hydrogel bioink from bovine Achilles tendon were presented. The developed bioink is used for a microcapillary-based bioprinting process without any support structure and/or any additional cross-linker components. The reported decellularization and solubilization methods yield dECM pre-gels which turn into stable hydrogels in a short time at physiological conditions. The gelation kinetics and mechanical strength of bioinks with different concentrations and digestion times are characterized. A support structure-free 3D bioprinting of the developed bioink is shown by aspirating dECM bioinks and then in situ gelation and extrusion through a fine microcapillary nozzle. The viability assays indicate that the developed dECM bioink has no cytotoxic effect on encapsulated NIH 3T3 cells and the cells show lineage-specific morphology in the early days of culture as well.