Methylcellulose – a versatile printing material that enables biofabrication of tissue equivalents with high shape fidelity

Abstract

This minireview highlights the use of the polysaccharide methylcellulose for biofabrication applications. Its properties are useful for printing of dissolvable support structures as well as the development of novel bioinks.

3D Bioprinting of Lignocellulosic Biomaterials

“…[33] Methylcellulose is biocompatible and has been used as food and drug additive in many countries. [34] MCs soluble in cold water but insoluble in hot water, with increasing viscosity observed as temperature increases, such that gel formation occurs at a temperature of 50-55°C. [35] In the sol state, MC is hydrophilic, but its hydrophobic properties increase due to the gelation process.…”

“…Methylcellulose as a thermal gelling polymer has mainly been used in 3D printing as a blending material with other polymers such as alginate [41] and hyaluronic acid [42] to improve the printing process of these polymers. Readers are referred to the review articles [34] regarding the recent development in applying methylcellulose for 3D printing for biomaterials engineering.…”

“…[38] In different studies MC with both low (15 cP) and high viscosity (4000 cP) have been used for bioprinting although it was not possible to develop multiple stacked layers using the low viscosity MC. [34,85] Although MC can form a viscous hydrogel network, its poor mechanical properties limits its application for bioprinting in unmodified form. To address this issue, Shin et al [86] in a recent study developed a dual cross linkable tyramine-modified MC conjugate which could be printed and showed good mechanical properties.…”

“…While different studies exist on 3D bioprinting of MC individually [31] or in combination with other polymers, a systematic comparison to reveal the real advantage of preparing these blends is lacking. The readers are referred to the mini review paper by Ahlfed et al [34] which highlighted various applications of MC for biofabrication.…”

Recent progress in extrusion 3D bioprinting of hydrogel biomaterials for tissue regeneration: a comprehensive review with focus on advanced fabrication techniques

“…Using 3D bioprinting techniques, bioink (mainly comprised of biomaterials, living cells, and/or bioactive molecules) is printed in a predesigned manner and incorporated with living cells as dynamic structures with functions (e.g., growth and proliferation) within scaffolds to regenerate target tissues [14][15][16]. Besides, it is a rapid and inexpensive method to generate geometrically well-defined scaffolds [17], and offers precise control over the composition of cells and biomaterials, associated with spatial distributions, and architectural accuracy [12,18]. Moreover, its ability for precise placement of high-density cells in the desired location and multiple types of cells in an orderly fashion mimics heterogeneous architectures of native tissues.…”