title: Rapid prototyping as a tool for manufacturing bioartificial livers.
abstract: Rapid prototyping (RP) technologies are a set of manufacturing processes that can produce very complex structures directly from computer-aided design models without structure-specific tools or knowledge. These technologies might eventually enable the manufacture of human livers to create functional substitutes for treating liver failure or dysfunctionality. However, the approaches used currently face many challenges, such as the complex branched vascular and bile ductular systems and the variety of cell types, matrices and regulatory factors involved in liver development. Here, we discuss the challenges and provide evidence for the usefulness of RP in overcoming them.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials Processing Technology, Ministry of Education & Center of Organ Manufacturing, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, P.R. China. wangxiaohong@tsinghua.edu.cn
authors.forename: Xiaohong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yongnian
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Renji
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D001698:Biomedical Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology; D019164:Liver, Artificial