3D bioprinting of a cell-laden antibacterial polysaccharide hydrogel composite

Bioink with inherent antibacterial activity is of particular interest for tissue engineering application due to the growing number of bacterial infections associated with impaired wound healing or bone implants. However, the development of cell-laden bioink with potent antibacterial activity while supporting tissue regeneration proved to be challenging. Here, we introduced a cell-laden antibacterial bioink based on Methylcellulose/Alginate (MC/Alg) hydrogel for skin tissue engineering via elimination of the risks associated with a bacterial infection. The key feature of the bioink is the use of gallium (Ga⁺³) in the design of bioink formulation with dual functions. First, Ga⁺³ stabilized the hydrogel bioink by the formation of ionic crosslinking with Alg chains. Second, the gallium-crosslinked bioink exhibited potent antibacterial activity toward both Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) bacteria with a bactericidal rate of 99.99 %. In addition, it was found that the developed bioink supported encapsulated fibroblast cellular functions.