The marked trend and consumers growing interest in natural and healthy products have forced researches and industry to develop novel products with functional ingredients. Microalgae have been recognized as source of functional ingredients with positive health effects since these microorganisms produce polyunsaturated fatty acids, polysaccharides, natural pigments, essential minerals, vitamins, enzymes and bioactive peptides. For this reason, the manuscript reviews two of the main high-value metabolites which can be obtained from microalgae: pigments and essential lipids. Therefore, the extraction and purification methods for polyunsaturated fatty acids, astaxanthin, phycoerythrin and phycocyanin are described. Also, the effect that environmental growth conditions have in the production of these metabolites is described. This review summarizes the existing methods to extract and purify such metabolites in order to develop a feasible and sustainable algae industry.
Despite advances in the bioprinting technology, biofabrication of
circumferentially multilayered tubular tissues or organs with cellular
heterogeneity, such as blood vessels, trachea, intestine, colon, ureter, and
urethra, remains a challenge. Herein, a promising multichannel coaxial extrusion
system (MCCES) for microfluidic bioprinting of circumferentially multilayered
tubular tissues in a single step, using customized bioinks constituting gelatin
methacryloyl, alginate, and eight-arm poly(ethylene glycol) acrylate with a
tripentaerythritol core, is presented. These perfusable cannular constructs can
be continuously tuned up from monolayer to triple layers at regular intervals
across the length of a bioprinted tube. Using customized bioink and MCCES,
bioprinting of several tubular tissue constructs using relevant cell types with
adequate biofunctionality including cell viability, proliferation, and
differentiation is demonstrated. Specifically, cannular urothelial tissue
constructs are bioprinted, using human urothelial cells and human bladder smooth
muscle cells, as well as vascular tissue constructs, using human umbilical vein
endothelial cells and human smooth muscle cells. These bioprinted cannular
tissues can be actively perfused with fluids and nutrients to promote growth and
proliferation of the embedded cell types. The fabrication of such tunable and
perfusable circumferentially multilayered tissues represents a fundamental step
toward creating human cannular tissues.
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