Tissue engineering with the aid of inkjet printers

Abstract

Tissue engineering holds the promise to create revolutionary new therapies for tissue and organ regeneration. This emerging field is extremely broad and eclectic in its various approaches. However, all strategies being developed are based on the therapeutic delivery of one or more of the following types of tissue building-blocks: cells; extracellular matrices or scaffolds; and hormones or other signaling molecules. So far, most work has used essentially homogenous combinations of these components, with subsequent self-organization to impart some level of tissue functionality occurring during in vitro culture or after transplantation. Emerging ‘bioprinting’ methodologies are being investigated to create tissue engineered constructs initially with more defined spatial organization, motivated by the hypothesis that biomimetic patterns can achieve improved therapeutic outcomes. Bioprinting based on inkjet and related printing technologies can be used to fabricate persistent biomimetic patterns that can be used both to study the underlying biology of tissue regeneration and potentially be translated into effective clinical therapies. However, recapitulating nature at even the most primitive levels such that printed cells, extracellular matrices and hormones become integrated into hierarchical, spatially organized three-dimensional tissue structures with appropriate functionality remains a significant challenge.

Keywords::

• bioprinting
• extracellular matrix
• growth factors
• regenerative medicine
• scaffolds
• stem cells
• tissue regeneration

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge support for their sited research as supported in part by the USA Office of Naval Research (Grant No. N000140110766), the National Science Foundation (Grants No. CTS-0210238 and DMI-9800565), the National Institutes of Health (Grant No. 1 R01 EB00 364-01), the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Technology Alliance (PITA) from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, the Health Resources and Services Administration (Grant No. 1C76 HF 00381-01), the Scaife Foundation, and the Philip and Marsha Dowd Engineering Seed Fund. The authors also wish to acknowledge J Jadlowiec (Phillippi), K Li, E Miller and J Smith for their contributions to the reported research. The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.