Novel Biomaterials Used in Medical 3D Printing Techniques

Abstract

The success of an implant depends on the type of biomaterial used for its fabrication. An ideal implant material should be biocompatible, inert, mechanically durable, and easily moldable. The ability to build patient specific implants incorporated with bioactive drugs, cells, and proteins has made 3D printing technology revolutionary in medical and pharmaceutical fields. A vast variety of biomaterials are currently being used in medical 3D printing, including metals, ceramics, polymers, and composites. With continuous research and progress in biomaterials used in 3D printing, there has been a rapid growth in applications of 3D printing in manufacturing customized implants, prostheses, drug delivery devices, and 3D scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The current review focuses on the novel biomaterials used in variety of 3D printing technologies for clinical applications. Most common types of medical 3D printing technologies, including fused deposition modeling, extrusion based bioprinting, inkjet, and polyjet printing techniques, their clinical applications, different types of biomaterials currently used by researchers, and key limitations are discussed in detail.

3D Bioprinting: An attractive alternative to traditional organ transplantation

“…This temperature range is reported to have no apparent damaging effect on the biological molecules including DNA and living cells [53,54]. The generated heat mainly converts the bioink to vapor bubbles which releases from the printer orifi ce due to the pressure exerted for the bubble expansion and removal of expanded bubbles from the print head [55]. Due to its accessibility, rapid printing and cost effectiveness [44], thermal inkjet printers have a wide range of applications [5].…”

“…There are various desktop 3D printers available, which varies according to their cost. Several inexpensive 3D printers include Maker Bot, Ultimaker, Flashforge and Prusa [55]. However, these printers have limited applications due to the production of lower resolution constructs and a variety of materials being employed [55].…”

“…Several inexpensive 3D printers include Maker Bot, Ultimaker, Flashforge and Prusa [55]. However, these printers have limited applications due to the production of lower resolution constructs and a variety of materials being employed [55]. In addition, there are various expensive FDM printers such as Stratasys 3D printers that have relatively higher resolution of products produced and have the capability to exploit a wide variety of materials [55].…”

“…SLA is the technique that does not require any support [66] as the print head and printing object has no connection with each other [55]. The technique utilizes two energy sources, a bed heater and a high-power laser [47].…”

Sustainable drug release from highly porous and architecturally engineered composite scaffolds prepared by 3D printing

“…The ability to create complex geometries with well‐controlled pore structure incorporating biomolecules and cells provides numerous advantages for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Although the process can basically be employed for wide variety of materials including metals, ceramics, polymers, and composites, there is still a lack in choice of biomaterials enabling to create a suitable platform (scaffold) for cells to migrate and form tissue (Tappa & Jammalamadaka, ). The physicochemical and mechanical properties of this platform are very critical because these parameters determine the viability, adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation of cells (Gunatillake & Adhikari, ; Vert, ).…”