Engineered multicomponent bioink enables neuronal maturation and activity in brain-like tissue models.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Neuroscience
• Tissue Engineering

Background:

• Recreating the complex physico-mechanical properties of brain tissue is a significant challenge in neural tissue engineering.
• Traditional 2D cell cultures do not accurately mimic the brain's cellular architecture or dynamic environment, and are inefficient.
• 3D bioprinting offers a promising alternative for creating more physiologically relevant neural models.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a tunable, multicomponent bioink for 3D bioprinting of neural progenitor cells.
• To optimize bioink properties for enhanced printability, stability, and cell-matrix interactions.
• To create a scalable platform for generating functional neural architectures.

Main Methods:

• A novel bioink was formulated using alginate, fibrinogen, and aldehyde hyaluronic acid.
• Polymer ratios were varied to tune the mechanical and physical properties of the bioink.
• Human-induced pluripotent stem-derived neural progenitor cells were bioprinted using the optimized bioink.
• Constructs were cultured for 4 weeks to assess cell survival, neuronal differentiation, and synaptic marker expression.

Main Results:

• The optimized bioink supported the 3D bioprinting of neural progenitor cells with brain-like stiffness.
• Constructs demonstrated long-term cell survival and promoted significant neuronal differentiation and neurite extension.
• Expression of synaptic markers and coordinated calcium activity were observed in the engineered neural networks.

Conclusions:

• A reproducible and scalable 3D bioprinting platform was established using a tunable multicomponent bioink.
• This platform facilitates the creation of neural architectures with interconnected networks and functional synaptic activity.
• The developed model holds potential for applications in neurodegenerative disease modeling and neurotherapeutic discovery.