A dual crosslinking strategy to tailor rheological properties of gelatin methacryloyl

Abstract

3D bioprinting is an emerging technology that enables the fabrication of three-dimensional organised cellular constructs. One of the major challenges in 3D bioprinting is to develop a material to meet the harsh requirements (cellcompatibility, printability, structural stability post-printing and bio-functionality to regulate cell behaviours) suitable for printing. Gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) has recently emerged as an attractive biomaterial in tissue engineering because it satisfies the requirements of bio-functionality and mechanical tunability. However, poor rheological property such as low viscosity at body temperature inhibits its application in 3D bioprinting. In this work, an enzymatic crosslinking method triggered by Ca 2+ -independent microbial transglutaminase (MTGase) was introduced to catalyse isopeptide bonds formation between chains of GelMA, which could improve its rheological behaviours, specifically its viscosity. By combining enzymatic crosslinking and photo crosslinking, it is possible to tune the solution viscosity and quickly stabilize the gelatin macromolecules at the same time. The results showed that the enzymatic crosslinking can increase the solution viscosity. Subsequent photo crosslinking could aid in fast stabilization of the structure and make handling easy.

3D‐engineered GelMA conduit filled with ECM promotes regeneration of peripheral nerve

“…Autogenous nerve graft or other nerve substitute also represents efficient solutions. Gelatin can be cross-linked with genipin (Chen et al, 2005) and EDC-NHS (Chang et al, 2007) or under the form of GelMA-LAP (Xia et al, 2018;Zhou, Lee, & Tan, 2017). Biodegradable biomaterials (Senapati, Mahanta, Kumar, & Maiti, 2018) such as poly (L-lactidecoglycolide) (PLGA) (Oh et al, 2008), polyglycolic acid (PGA) (Wang et al, 2005), chitosan (Jiao et al, 2009), silk (Yang et al, 2007), collagen (Archibald, Shefner, Krarup, & Madison, 1995), or gelatin (Chang et al, 2007;Chen et al, 2005Chen et al, , 2006Lu et al, 2007) are promising compounds.…”

“…Biodegradable biomaterials (Senapati, Mahanta, Kumar, & Maiti, 2018) such as poly (L-lactidecoglycolide) (PLGA) (Oh et al, 2008), polyglycolic acid (PGA) (Wang et al, 2005), chitosan (Jiao et al, 2009), silk (Yang et al, 2007), collagen (Archibald, Shefner, Krarup, & Madison, 1995), or gelatin (Chang et al, 2007;Chen et al, 2005Chen et al, , 2006Lu et al, 2007) are promising compounds. Gelatin can be cross-linked with genipin (Chen et al, 2005) and EDC-NHS (Chang et al, 2007) or under the form of GelMA-LAP (Xia et al, 2018;Zhou, Lee, & Tan, 2017). Noteworthy, Gou and collaborators (Hu et al, 2016) described the use of GelMA and ADSCs to facilitate rat sciatic nerve repair.…”

3D Printing/Interfacial Polymerization Coupling for the Fabrication of Conductive Hydrogel

“…3D printing is an additive manufacturing (AM) process that enables to construct 3D objects directly from a digital model. It has received a great deal of attention from a diverse range of fields including electronics, biomedics and regenerative medicine, and microfluidics . Objects are constructed layer‐by‐layer, enabling the creation of complex parts with tailored morphology and functionality .…”

IJB is on its way to Science Citation Index

“…Sachan et al demonstrate bioprinting of amphotericin B on microneedles using matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation [11] . Zhou et al suggest a dual crosslinking strategy to tailor rheological properties of gelatin methacryloyl [12] . Dias et al report a new design of an electrospinning apparatus for bioprinting and tissue engineering applications [13] .…”