Developments and Opportunities for 3D Bioprinted Organoids 

Abstract

Organoids developed from pluripotent stem cells or adult stem cells are three-dimensional cell cultures possessing certain key characteristics of their organ counterparts, and they can mimic certain biological developmental processes of organs in vitro. Therefore, they have promising applications in drug screening, disease modeling, and regenerative repair of tissues and organs. However, the construction of organoids currently faces numerous challenges, such as breakthroughs in scale size, vascularization, better reproducibility, and precise architecture in time and space. Recently, the application of bioprinting has accelerated the process of organoid construction. In this review, we present current bioprinting techniques and the application of bioinks and summarize examples of successful organoid bioprinting. In the future, a multidisciplinary combination of developmental biology, disease pathology, cell biology, and materials science will aid in overcoming the obstacles pertaining to the bioprinting of organoids. The combination of bioprinting and organoids with a focus on structure and function can facilitate further development of real organs.

Perspectives for 3D-Bioprinting in Modeling of Tumor Immune Evasion

“…PDCO-derived organoids are investigated as potential clinical tools for the personalization of oncological treatment and response prediction [62][63][64]. The merger of 3D-bioprinting and organoid technologies both accelerates organoid formation and increases the potential organoid complexity [65]. Many of the structures described later in this section can be considered 3D-bioprinted tumor organoids.…”

Stem Cell-Based Tissue Engineering for the Treatment of Burn Wounds: A Systematic Review of Preclinical Studies

“…The same group then developed a human skin organoid, by guiding human iPSCs through a month-long process of differentiation to generate complex hair-bearing human skin tissue [ 141 ]. These skin organoids may be used to model burn wounds for testing new skin substitutes, offering short modelling times and the potential to be made patient-specific [ 142 ].…”

3D Human Organoids: The Next “Viral” Model for the Molecular Basis of Infectious Diseases

“…Thus, refinement in terms of morphogenic control would be needed to ensure the consistent maturation of organoids. Alternatively, another method to improve reproducibility would be the application of bio-printing [ 149 ]. By standardising the formation of organoids, the variability in the size of organoids could be resolved [ 150 , 151 ].…”

“…Moreover, the yield of organoids generated through bio-printing would triumph over the scale brought about by traditional culture methods [ 150 , 151 ]. Although bio-printing could accurately control the dissemination of cells, the limited resolution of bioink still restricts its ability to give rise to microscopic vasculature such as capillaries [ 149 ]. With a higher resolution, the bioink tends to be of a lower viscosity, which impedes the structural assembly of macroscopic tissues [ 152 ].…”

“…With a higher resolution, the bioink tends to be of a lower viscosity, which impedes the structural assembly of macroscopic tissues [ 152 ]. A higher resolution would also cause greater mechanical stress to the cells during deposition, which in turn reduces cell viability [ 149 , 153 ]. Therefore, breakthroughs in organoid bioprinting would be required to push this technology to greater heights.…”