Bioprinting of 3D tissues/organs combined with microfluidics

Abstract

Combinations of 3D bioprinting and microfluidics could complement each other to create artificial tissues and organs with complex architectures.

Multicomponent polysaccharide alginate-based bioinks

“…26 Noteworthy applications of microfluidic technology include the production of 3D printed vascular structures and cellular organoids. 27,60,61 As described above for the inkjet technique, in this case, the concentration of alginate and of the cross-linker once again has a remarkable effect on the features of the bioprinted structures. Aguilera and co-workers studied the effects of these two factors on the mechanical properties of calcium alginate fibres prepared using a microfluidic device.…”

“…extrusion, inkjet, and microfluidic bioprinting). [24][25][26][27] Extrusion is probably the most widely employed bioprinting methodology, employing the controlled extrusion of long hydrogel filaments from a dispensing cartridge. 25 This technique can be applied with a variety of bioinks ranging from low to high viscosities.…”

“…However, because alginate is easy to gel at room temperature, allowing the encapsulation of living cells before the printing process, it can be readily applied to other bioprinting methods. The reader is, therefore also referred to a number of additional reviews and research articles for a more detailed discussion, 24,[26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] and we will go on to briefly review inkjet and microfluidic bioprinting technologies, for which the properties of this polymer are particularly advantageous, later in this article.…”

Lab-on-a-Chip for Cardiovascular Physiology and Pathology

“…In fact, resolution from 3D bioprinting can often be significantly less than photolithography and conventional 3D printing. Compared to the nozzle-based printing method, the optical-based bioprinting method transfers bioink onto a substrate by ejection or cross-linking with light-based material interactions [ 63 ]. The benefits of this method is reduced potential to damage the biomaterials used for ejection, especially cells, and the ability to create highly robust 3D patterns [ 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 ].…”

“…Though true, the ability to reproduce a completely functional “organ” with all the respective cell types remains a challenge in the field. A last future outlook in the field consists of the ability to use lab-on-a-chip technologies to study the complex interplay that exists between the cardiovascular system as well as other complementary systems such as the respiratory system and neurological system [ 32 , 33 , 34 , 63 , 64 , 93 , 117 ].…”