A multi-axis robot-based bioprinting system supporting natural cell function preservation and cardiac tissue...

Area of Science:

• Regenerative Medicine
• Tissue Engineering
• Bioprinting Technology

Background:

• Generating large, functional organs remains a challenge in regenerative medicine.
• Conventional 3D bioprinting struggles with complex vasculature and cell function preservation.
• Existing methods face limitations in fabricating intricate organ structures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To overcome limitations in current bioprinting systems for complex organ fabrication.
• To develop a method for creating vascularized, functional cardiac tissues.
• To present a novel bioprinting strategy mimicking in vivo organ development.

Main Methods:

• Conversion of a six degree-of-freedom robotic arm into a bioprinter for multi-directional cell printing.
• Development of an oil bath-based cell printing technique to preserve cell viability and function.
• Integration with a custom bioreactor and a repeated print-and-culture strategy.

Main Results:

• Successful fabrication of vascularized, contractible, and long-term surviving cardiac tissues.
• Demonstration of cell printing on 3D complex-shaped vascular scaffolds from all directions.
• Achieved enhanced cell function preservation post-printing using the oil bath method.

Conclusions:

• The novel bioprinting system offers a promising solution for in vitro fabrication of complex organs.
• The developed strategy effectively mimics in vivo organ development processes.
• This approach advances the field of regenerative medicine by enabling the creation of intricate tissue constructs.