3D Printing promises to produce complex biomedical devices according to computer design using patient-specific anatomical data. Since its initial use as pre-surgical visualization models and tooling molds, 3D Printing has slowly evolved to create one-of-a-kind devices, implants, scaffolds for tissue engineering, diagnostic platforms, and drug delivery systems. Fueled by the recent explosion in public interest and access to affordable printers, there is renewed interest to combine stem cells with custom 3D scaffolds for personalized regenerative medicine. Before 3D Printing can be used routinely for the regeneration of complex tissues (e.g. bone, cartilage, muscles, vessels, nerves in the craniomaxillofacial complex), and complex organs with intricate 3D microarchitecture (e.g. liver, lymphoid organs), several technological limitations must be addressed. In this review, the major materials and technology advances within the last five years for each of the common 3D Printing technologies (Three Dimensional Printing, Fused Deposition Modeling, Selective Laser Sintering, Stereolithography, and 3D Plotting/Direct-Write/Bioprinting) are described. Examples are highlighted to illustrate progress of each technology in tissue engineering, and key limitations are identified to motivate future research and advance this fascinating field of advanced manufacturing.

The axial and radial compressive moduli of the human meniscus are important material properties in tibiofemoral joint models, but they have not been determined previously for fresh-frozen tissue. Our goals were to measure the moduli at equilibrium and at a physiological strain rate, to determine whether the axial and radial compressive moduli are equal for each type of loading, and to determine whether they depend on the region (i.e., anterior, middle, posterior) of the meniscus. Samples from each region from 10 fresh-frozen human medial menisci were tested in unconfined compression at four strain levels (3%, 6%, 9%, and 12%) at 32%/s, a strain rate determined to be physiologically relevant to walking, and then allowed to reach equilibrium in stress relaxation. At equilibrium, the axial and radial compressive moduli at 12% strain were 83.4 kPa and 76.1 kPa, respectively (p ¼ 0.58), whereas at the physiological strain rate, the axial and radial compressive moduli at 12% strain were 718 kPa and 605 kPa, respectively (p ¼ 0.61). At the physiological strain rate, the modulus increased with increasing strain (79.2 kPa at 3% strain vs. 662 kPa at 12% strain) and the modulus in the anterior region (1,048 kPa at 12% strain) was significantly greater than that in the posterior region (329 kPa at 12% strain) (p ¼ 0.04). Our study supports a plane of isotropy for the material properties of meniscal tissue. However, the material behavior is strongly nonlinear because the compressive modulus is several orders of magnitude smaller than previously reported values for tensile modulus. Further, the compressive modulus depends on the activity of interest (i.e., static such as standing or dynamic such as walking) due to viscoelastic effects, the strain level, and the region of the tissue. ß

No abstract

A biomimetic delivery strategy for transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) is described, in which TGF-β is presented in a latent form (the small latent complex, SLC), which is inactive until modified by the actions of the cells. In this work, SLC is tethered to a hyaluronic acid hydrogel scaffold to enhance in vitro chondrogenesis.