3D Bioprinting with Light Active Tissue-specific Bioink to Improve Structural Fidelity and Tissue Function

Abstract

Development of tissue-derived decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM)-based bioinks is increasingly emerging as a next generation bioink for 3D bioprinting. However, it is associated with challenges pertaining to the fabrication of multilayered 3D bioprinted construct with structural fidelity as a result of inferior mechanical properties. Photo-crosslinking utilizing light could offer a promising and alternative strategy to enhance the mechanical properties. the visible light (> 400 nm) photoinitiators, such as ruthenium/sodium persulfate (Ru/SPS) has been investigated as a mild photoinitiator for cell printing purposes. In this study, we investigate the novel method to find proper combination of the cytocompatible visible light photoinitiators (Ru/SPS) and dECM-based bioinks for the fabrication of complexshaped 3D bioprinted constructs with high aspect ratio, improved shape fidelity, and enhanced tissue functions. Results demonstrated successful fabrication of visible light crosslinked hdECM-based constructs with improved printability. In addition, we fabricated various patterned patches for drug delivery by co-axial extrusion printing.