Laser-assisted biofabrication in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine

Abstract

Controlling the spatial arrangement of biomaterials and living cells provides the foundation for fabricating complex biological systems. Such level of spatial resolution (less than 10 lm) is difficult to be obtained through conventional cell processing techniques, which lack the precision, reproducibility, automation, and speed required for the rapid fabrication of engineered tissue constructs. Recently, laserassisted biofabrication techniques are being intensively developed with the use of computer-aided processes for patterning and assembling both living and nonliving materials with prescribed 2D or 3D organization. In this review, we discuss laser-assisted fabrication methods, including laser tweezers, multi-photon polymerization, laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT), matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE), and laser ablation as well as their applications in biological science and biomedical engineering. These advanced technologies enable the precise manipulation of in vitro cellular microenvironments and the ability to engineer functional tissue constructs with high complexity and heterogeneity, which serve in regenerative medicine, pharmacology, and basic cell biology studies.

Laser‐Based Printing: From Liquids to Microstructures

“…Several reviews regarding general approaches for optical manipulation are available, [31,33,50,[120][121][122] while Juan et al [123] focus on metallic particles and Koo et al focus on manipulation of cells. [124]…”

Heart on a chip: Micro-nanofabrication and microfluidics steering the future of cardiac tissue engineering

“…The use of laser based fabrication techniques is becoming more widespread over the years. Lasers have the ability to modify a variety of materials in the micro and nano scale in a very controlled manner with the aid of robotic arms and computer controllers [64]. This part of the paper will only focus on planar fabrication techniques and thus will narrow down mainly to laser ablation.…”

“…Schematic representations of the method, followed by advantages and disadvantages for their use in cardiac tissue engineering. Figures (reprinted with permission) are modified from the following: optical lithography from [21], soft lithography from [34], laser ablation from [64], plasma modification from [114], and electrospinning from [90].…”

PHEMA Hydrogels Obtained by Infrared Radiation for Cartilage Tissue Engineering

“…In this concern, the radiation-induced polymerization process is very interesting because it provides a product free from toxic solvents and allows the control of physical-chemical properties of the material; it is possible to adjust the intensity and/or absorbed radiation dose [26]. Biofabrication techniques of polymeric devices and hydrogels through laser technology have been reported [27,28], and their viability for producing 2-D and 3-D grafts is remarkable [28,29]. However, some of the processing methods have high operating cost, such as UV and femtosecond lasers [30], or only works with transparent materials, as a tightly focused ultrafast laser beam at infrared wavelength [29].…”

“…Biofabrication techniques of polymeric devices and hydrogels through laser technology have been reported [27,28], and their viability for producing 2-D and 3-D grafts is remarkable [28,29]. However, some of the processing methods have high operating cost, such as UV and femtosecond lasers [30], or only works with transparent materials, as a tightly focused ultrafast laser beam at infrared wavelength [29]. Extreme ultraviolet laser might change the degradation rate of the polymeric biomaterial [31], and some techniques, such as the matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation direct writing (MAPLE-DW), imply in using metallic layers that might contaminate the final product [28].…”