title: Bioprinting three-dimensional cell-laden tissue constructs with controllable degradation.
abstract: Alginate hydrogel is a popular biologically inert material that is widely used in 3D bioprinting, especially in extrusion-based printing. However, the printed cells in this hydrogel could not degrade the surrounding alginate gel matrix, causing them to remain in a poorly proliferating and non-differentiating state. Here, we report a novel study of the 3D printing of human corneal epithelial cells (HCECs)/collagen/gelatin/alginate hydrogel incubated with a medium containing sodium citrate to obtain degradation-controllable cell-laden tissue constructs. The 3D-printed hydrogel network with interconnected channels and a macroporous structure was stable and achieved high cell viability (over 90%). By altering the mole ratio of sodium citrate/sodium alginate, the degradation time of the bioprinting constructs can be controlled. Cell proliferation and specific marker protein expression results also revealed that with the help of sodium citrate degradation, the printed HCECs showed a higher proliferation rate and greater cytokeratin 3(CK3) expression, indicating that this newly developed method may help to improve the alginate bioink system for the application of 3D bioprinting in tissue engineering.
authors.affiliation: Biomanufacturing Engineering Laboratory, Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhengjie
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Biomanufacturing Engineering Laboratory, Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Biomanufacturing Engineering Laboratory, Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Biomanufacturing Engineering Laboratory, Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.affiliation: Biomanufacturing Engineering Laboratory, Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, P.R. China.|Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.|Department of Mechanical Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Biomanufacturing Engineering Laboratory, Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shengli
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mi
mesh_terms: D000464:Alginates / Q000737:chemistry*; D062028:Bioprinting; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D002470:Cell Survival; D003094:Collagen / Q000737:chemistry; D019573:Epithelium, Corneal / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects; D005780:Gelatin / Q000737:chemistry; D020723:Glucuronic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D006603:Hexuronic Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D020136:Hydrogel, Polyethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate / Q000737:chemistry; D066330:Printing, Three-Dimensional; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000464:Alginates; D006603:Hexuronic Acids; D020136:Hydrogel, Polyethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate; D020723:Glucuronic Acid; D005780:Gelatin; D003094:Collagen