title: Fabrication of scalable and structured tissue engineering scaffolds using water dissolvable sacrificial 3D printed moulds.
abstract: One of the major challenges in producing large scale engineered tissue is the lack of ability to create large highly perfused scaffolds in which cells can grow at a high cell density and viability. Here, we explore 3D printed polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a sacrificial mould in a polymer casting process. The PVA mould network defines the channels and is dissolved after curing the polymer casted around it. The printing parameters determined the PVA filament density in the sacrificial structure and this density resulted in different stiffness of the corresponding elastomer replica. It was possible to achieve 80% porosity corresponding to about 150 cm(2)/cm(3) surface to volume ratio. The process is easily scalable as demonstrated by fabricating a 75 cm(3) scaffold with about 16,000 interconnected channels (about 1m(2) surface area) and with a channel to channel distance of only 78 μm. To our knowledge this is the largest scaffold ever to be produced with such small feature sizes and with so many structured channels. The fabricated scaffolds were applied for in-vitro culturing of hepatocytes over a 12-day culture period. Smaller scaffolds (6×4 mm) were tested for cell culturing and could support homogeneous cell growth throughout the scaffold. Presumably, the diffusion of oxygen and nutrient throughout the channel network is rapid enough to support cell growth. In conclusion, the described process is scalable, compatible with cell culture, rapid, and inexpensive.
authors.affiliation: DTU Nanotech, Department of Micro- and Nanotechnology, Technical University of Denmark, Ørsteds Plads, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
authors.forename: Soumyaranjan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mohanty
authors.affiliation: DTU Nanotech, Department of Micro- and Nanotechnology, Technical University of Denmark, Ørsteds Plads, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
authors.forename: Layla Bashir
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Larsen
authors.affiliation: Danish Polymer Centre, Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Søltofts Plads, Building 229, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Trifol
authors.affiliation: Danish Polymer Centre, Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Søltofts Plads, Building 229, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Szabo
authors.affiliation: DTU Nanotech, Department of Micro- and Nanotechnology, Technical University of Denmark, Ørsteds Plads, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
authors.forename: Harsha Vardhan Reddy
authors.initials: HV
authors.lastname: Burri
authors.affiliation: DTU Nanotech, Department of Micro- and Nanotechnology, Technical University of Denmark, Ørsteds Plads, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Canali
authors.affiliation: DTU Nanotech, Department of Micro- and Nanotechnology, Technical University of Denmark, Ørsteds Plads, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
authors.forename: Marin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dufva
authors.affiliation: DTU Nanotech, Department of Micro- and Nanotechnology, Technical University of Denmark, Ørsteds Plads, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jenny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Emnéus
authors.affiliation: DTU Nanotech, Department of Micro- and Nanotechnology, Technical University of Denmark, Ørsteds Plads, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark. Electronic address: anders.wolff@nanotech.dtu.dk.
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wolff
mesh_terms: D056945:Hep G2 Cells; D006801:Humans; D066330:Printing, Three-Dimensional; D012995:Solubility; D013499:Surface Properties; D023822:Tissue Engineering; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds; D017155:Wettability
keywords: 3D printing; PVA; Scalable; Tissue engineering