Sacrificial Biofabrication for Vascularization: Concept, Materials, Technologies, and Applications.

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Tissue Engineering
• Regenerative Medicine

Background:

• Vascularization is critical for tissue viability, nutrient/oxygen exchange, and waste removal in tissue engineering.
• Biomimetic vascular networks are essential for developing functional tissue constructs.
• Sacrificial biofabrication offers an effective strategy for engineering vascular structures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and define sacrificial biofabrication for vascularization.
• To provide a comprehensive overview of sacrificial materials and fabrication technologies.
• To discuss applications, challenges, and future perspectives in vasculature manufacturing.

Main Methods:

• Review of sacrificial biofabrication techniques.
• Analysis of sacrificial materials based on external stimuli.
• Summary of fabrication technologies for sacrificial materials.
• Discussion of applications in disease models and regenerative medicine.

Main Results:

• Sacrificial biofabrication enables the creation of well-defined vascular channels by removing temporary templates.
• Diverse sacrificial materials responsive to external stimuli are available.
• Various fabrication technologies can process these sacrificial materials.
• Applications span disease modeling and regenerative medicine.

Conclusions:

• Sacrificial biofabrication is a key technology for engineering vascular networks.
• Further advancements are needed to address current challenges in vasculature manufacturing.
• Future perspectives focus on optimizing materials and fabrication for enhanced regenerative medicine applications.