Development of Mg-Alginate Based Self Disassociative Bio-Ink for Magnetic Bio-Patterning of 3D Tumor Models

Alginate forms a hydrogel via physical cross-linking with divalent cations. In literature, Ca²⁺ is mostly utilized due to strong interactions but additional procedures are required to disassociate Ca-alginate hydrogels. On the other hand, Mg-alginate hydrogels disassociate spontaneously, which might benefit certain applications. This study introduces Mg-alginate as the main component of a bio-ink for the first time to obtain 3D tumor models by magnetic bio-patterning technique. The bio-ink contains magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) for magnetic manipulation, Mg-alginate hydrogel as a sacrificial material, and cells. The applicability of the methodology is tested for the formation of 3D tumor models using HeLa, SaOS-2, and SH-SY5Y cells. Long-term cultures are examined by Live/dead and MTT analysis and revealed high cell viability. Subsequently, Collagen and F-actin expressions are observed successfully in 3D tumor models. Finally, the anti-cancer drug Doxorubicin (DOX) effect is investigated on 3D tumor models, and IC₅₀ values is calculated to assess the drug response. As a result, significantly higher drug resistance is observed for bio-patterned 3D tumor models up to tenfold compared to 2D control. Overall, Mg-alginate hydrogel is successfully used to form bio-patterned 3D tumor models, and the applicability of the model is shown effectively, especially as a drug screening platform.