We report the first investigation into the bioprinting of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), their response to a valve-based printing process as well as their post-printing differentiation into hepatocyte-like cells (HLCs). HLCs differentiated from both hiPSCs and human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) sources were bioprinted and examined for the presence of hepatic markers to further validate the compatibility of the valve-based bioprinting process with fragile cell transfer. Examined cells were positive for nuclear factor 4 alpha and were demonstrated to secrete albumin and have morphology that was also found to be similar to that of hepatocytes. Both hESC and hiPSC lines were tested for post-printing viability and pluripotency and were found to have negligible difference in terms of viability and pluripotency between the printed and non-printed cells. hESC-derived HLCs were 3D printed using alginate hydrogel matrix and tested for viability and albumin secretion during the remaining differentiation and were found to be hepatic in nature. 3D printed with 40-layer of HLC-containing alginate structures reached peak albumin secretion at day 21 of the differentiation protocol. This work demonstrates that the valve-based printing process is gentle enough to print human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) (both hESCs and hiPSCs) while either maintaining their pluripotency or directing their differentiation into specific lineages. The ability to bioprint hPSCs will pave the way for producing organs or tissues on demand from patient specific cells which could be used for animal-free drug development and personalized medicine.

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In recent years, the use of a simple inkjet technology for cell printing has triggered tremendous interest and established the field of biofabrication. A key challenge has been the development of printing processes which are both controllable and less harmful, in order to preserve cell and tissue viability and functions. Here, we report on the development of a valve-based cell printer that has been validated to print highly viable cells in programmable patterns from two different bio-inks with independent control of the volume of each droplet (with a lower limit of 2 nL or fewer than five cells per droplet). Human ESCs were used to make spheroids by overprinting two opposing gradients of bio-ink; one of hESCs in medium and the other of medium alone. The resulting array of uniform sized droplets with a gradient of cell concentrations was inverted to allow cells to aggregate and form spheroids via gravity. The resulting aggregates have controllable and repeatable sizes, and consequently they can be made to order for specific applications. Spheroids with between 5 and 140 dissociated cells resulted in spheroids of 0.25-0.6 mm diameter. This work demonstrates that the valve-based printing process is gentle enough to maintain stem cell viability, accurate enough to produce spheroids of uniform size, and that printed cells maintain their pluripotency. This study includes the first analysis of the response of human embryonic stem cells to the printing process using this valve-based printing setup.

Active demethylation of cytosine residues in the sperm genome before forming a functional zygotic nucleus is thought to be an important function of the oocyte cytoplasm for subsequent embryonic development in the mouse. Conversely, this event does not occur in the sheep or rabbit zygote and occurs only partially in the cow. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of limited methylation reprogramming in the normal sheep embryo on reprogramming somatic nuclei. Sheep fibroblast somatic nuclei were partially demethylated after electrofusion with recipient sheep oocytes and undergo a stepwise passive loss of DNA methylation during early development, as determined by 5-methylcytosine immunostaining on interphase embryonic nuclei. A similar decrease takes place with in vivo-derived sheep embryos up to the eight-cell stage, although nuclear transfer embryos exhibit a consistently higher level of methylation at each stage. Between the eight-cell and blastocyst stages, DNA methylation levels in nuclear transfer embryos are comparable with those derived in vivo, but the distribution of methylated DNA is abnormal in a high proportion. By correlating DNA methylation with developmental potential at individual stages, our results suggest that somatic nuclei that do not undergo rapid reorganization of their DNA before the first mitosis fail to develop within two to three cell cycles and that the observed methylation defects in early cleavage stages more likely occur as a direct consequence of failed nuclear reorganization than in failed demethylation capacity. However, because only embryos with reorganized chromatin appear to survive the 16-cell and morula stages, failure to demethylate the trophectoderm cells of the blastocyst is likely to directly impact on developmental potential by altering programmed patterns of gene expression in extra-embryonic tissues. Thus, both remodeling of DNA and epigenetic reprogramming appear critical for development of both fertilized and nuclear transfer embryos.

In contrast to mice, in sheep no genome-wide demethylation of the paternal genome occurs within the first postfertilization cell cycle. This difference could be due either to an absence of a sheep demethylase activity that is present in mouse ooplasm or to an increased protection of methylated cytosine residues in sheep sperm. Here, we use interspecies intracytoplasmic sperm injection to demonstrate that sheep sperm DNA can be demethylated in mouse oocytes. Surprisingly, mouse sperm can also be demethylated to a limited extent in sheep oocytes. Our results suggest that the murine demethylation process is facilitated either by a spermderived factor or by male pronuclear chromatin composition.M ethylation of the DNA cytosine residues in CpG dinucleotides is part of the complex epigenetic mechanism that has evolved to silence genomic sequences where their transcription either is not required for development or may be detrimental to genomic stability (reviewed in refs. 1-3). DNA methylation also plays an important role in allele-specific repression at imprinted gene loci, regulating such processes as fetal growth and development as well as X inactivation (reviewed in refs. 4-6). Whereas the genome-wide methylation patterns and levels of differentiated somatic lineages remain largely constant, very dynamic changes have been reported to occur in the preimplantation embryo in association with the formation of pluripotent embryonic nuclei.After fertilization, the sperm and egg genomes are remodeled into pronuclei, which appose within the oocyte cytoplasm before the first embryonic mitosis. However, the highly condensed sperm chromatin requires extensive nuclear remodeling and protamine-histone exchange, unlike nucleosomal maternal chromatin. By using an antibody against 5-methylcytosine (5mC), the presumptive male pronucleus of mouse, rat, pig, human, and, to a lesser extent, cow embryos have been shown to actively demethylate before syngamy, whereas the female pronucleus retains genome-wide methylation (7-12). In contrast, active demethylation of the paternal genome is not observed in early sheep or rabbit embryos (with an intermediate state in the cow) (12), which suggests that it is not an obligate requirement for mammalian development. The discovery that the dramatic changes in DNA methylation associated with early formative events in the mouse embryo are not conserved in the sheep allows a unique opportunity to investigate the regulatory mechanisms involved. Mouse ooplasm can fully demethylate multiple male pronuclei in polyspermic embryos, which raises the question of whether the demethylating activity resides in the fertilized oocyte or is intimately associated with the sperm (10). We have now used interspecies intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) to mimic the events of normal fertilization and investigate whether species differences in the oocyte environment or sperm composition determines the extent of male pronuclear demethylation. Materials and MethodsAll animal procedures were under strict accordance with...