Design of photocurable, biodegradable scaffolds for liver lobule regeneration via digital light process-additive manufacturing

Abstract

The regeneration of damaged or lost tissue is considered to be a critical step toward realizing full organ regeneration in modern medicine. Although surgical techniques continue to advance, treatment for missing tissues in irregular wounds remains particularly difficult. With increasing interest in the application of additive manufacturing in tissue engineering, the fabrication of customized scaffolds for the regeneration of missing tissue via three-dimensional (3D) printing has become especially promising. Amongst the work on the regeneration of many important organs, liver regeneration is particularly interesting because liver diseases are increasingly prevalent in many countries around the world, resulting in a greater need for liver transplantation. The generation of hexagonal scaffolds for the regeneration of liver lobules is highly demanding, but their 3D structure has been proved difficult to reproduce by traditional fabrication methods. In this work, various hexagonal scaffolds are developed for liver lobule regeneration via 3D printing using novel biodegradable polymeric materials, including poly(glycerol sebacate) acrylate and poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate. Through fine-tuning of printing parameters, a series of hexagonal scaffolds were designed and printed to mimic liver lobule units. The scaffolds were printed with various structures together with varying surface areas and 3D structures to enhance cell seeding density and diffusivity of the culture medium. Analysis of cell metabolic activities showed that the high-diffusion staircase (HDS) scaffold could support potential differences in cell proliferation rate. Furthermore, the HDS scaffolds composed of different copolymers were cultured with cells for up to 16 days to investigate the relationship between physical properties and hepatocyte proliferation. The results indicate that the combination of the high flexibility 3D printing with biodegradable, photocurable copolymers shows great promise for the regeneration of 3D liver lobules.

Fabrication of Biomedical Scaffolds Using Biodegradable Polymers

“…Copyright 2020 Elsevier. Reproduced with permission from ref . Copyright 2020 IOP Publishing, Ltd. Reproduced with permission from ref .…”

“…Ultimately, 12 PCL-based polyurethane photocurable resins with tunable mechanical properties, cytotoxicity, and degradability were developed. Various hexagonal scaffolds were developed for liver lobule regeneration by Wang et al via DLP 3D printing using biodegradable poly­(glycerol sebacate) (PGS) acrylate and PEGDA (Figure b) . The scaffolds were printed with various structures along with varying surface areas to enhance cell seeding density and diffusivity of the culture medium.…”

“…(B) SEM images of PGSA scaffolds with FL83B seeded on (a,b) two-layered staggered hexagonal through-hole scaffolds and (c,d) sealed bottom hexagonal staggered scaffolds for 5 days; scale bars 250 μm; white arrows indicate cells. Reproduced with permission from ref . Copyright 2020 IOP Publishing, Ltd.…”

“…Various hexagonal scaffolds were developed for liver lobule regeneration by Wang et al via DLP 3D printing using biodegradable poly(glycerol sebacate) (PGS) acrylate and PEGDA (Figure 13b). 126 The scaffolds were printed with various structures along with varying surface areas to enhance cell seeding density and diffusivity of the culture medium. Cell metabolic activities were analyzed and showed that the high-diffusion staircase scaffold could support potential differences in cell proliferation rate.…”

Integration of Additive Manufacturing, Parametric Design, and Optimization of Parts Obtained by Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). A Methodological Approach

“…In fact, additive manufacturing allows so many new possibilities and with so much impact that they make it possible to speak of a new paradigm in terms of mass customization [ 47 ]. A reality that opens many lines of application and business, and that in fields such as medicine and pharmaceutics, where additive manufacturing is already being widely applied [ 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 ], can be especially beneficial by offering personalized solutions tailored to patients.…”