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Author Spotlight: Automated Bioprinting for High-Throughput Vascular Model Fabrication
Published on: August 16, 2024
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Bioprinting a 3D vascular construct for engineering a vessel-on-a-chip
Mieradilijiang Abudupataer1,2, Nan Chen1,2, Shiqiang Yan3
1Department of Cardiac Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China.
Biomedical Microdevices
|December 27, 2019
Summary
Bioprinting technology creates a 3D vascular model on a chip, mimicking the human vessel wall. This advanced organ-on-a-chip system better replicates the natural vascular microenvironment for research.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Tissue Engineering
- Vascular Biology
Background:
- Organ-on-a-chip models are crucial for translational research, but fabricating vascular models with accurate intimal-medial units is challenging.
- Conventional methods struggle to replicate the complex structure of the vessel wall.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel 3D bioprinting method for creating a vascular-on-a-chip model.
- To investigate the potential of bioprinting to mimic the native vascular microenvironment using endothelial cells (ECs) and smooth muscle cells (SMCs).
Main Methods:
- Utilized gelatin-methacryloyl-based bioprinting to fabricate a 3D construct with ECs and SMCs on a microfluidic chip.
- Co-cultured ECs and SMCs within the bioprinted construct.
Main Results:
- The bioprinted EC-SMC co-culture chip model significantly upregulated alpha-smooth muscle actin (αSMA) and SM22 protein expression in SMCs compared to traditional systems.
- The model successfully maintained the contractile phenotype of SMCs, closely mimicking the natural vascular microenvironment.
Conclusions:
- Gelatin-methacryloyl-based bioprinting offers a promising approach for fabricating complex 3D vascular constructs.
- This in vitro vascular model provides a valuable platform for studying vascular physiology and pathology.
