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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Marcin Kotlarz, Dr Ana Ferreira-DuarteORCiD, Dr Piergiorgio GentileORCiD, Professor Kenneth Dalgarno
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Composites offer an opportunity to couple particular benefits of their constituents to achieve unique material properties that can be of extra value in many tissue engineering applications. Strategies combining hydrogels with fibre-based scaffolds can create more biologically and structurally functional tissue constructs. However, developing efficient and scalable approaches to manufacture such composites is challenging. Here, we use a droplet-based bioprinting system called Reactive Jet Impingement (ReJI) to integrate a cell-laden hydrogel with a microfibrous mesh. The ReJI system uses microvalves connected to different bio-ink reservoirs and directed to continuously jet bio-ink droplets at one another in mid-air, where the droplets react and form a hydrogel that lands on a microfibrous mesh. We produce cell-hydrogel-fibre composites by embedding human dermal fibroblasts at two different concentrations (5 M and 30 M cells/ml, respectively) in a collagen-alginate-fibrin hydrogel matrix and bioprint it onto a fibre-based substrate. Our results show that both types of cell-hydrogel-microfibre composites maintain high cell viability and promote cell-cell and cell-biomaterial interactions. The lower fibroblast density thereby triggers cell proliferation, whereas the higher fibroblast density facilitates faster cellular organisation and infiltration into the microfibres. Additionally, the fibrous component of the composite is characterised by its high swelling properties and quick calcium ions release. The data indicate that the composite constructs we create offer an efficient way to create highly functional tissue precursors for laminar tissue engineering particularly wound healing and skin tissue engineering applications.
Author(s): Kotlarz M, Ferreira AM, Gentile P, Russell SJ, Dalgarno K
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Bio-Design and Manufacture
Year: 2022
Volume: 5
Pages: 512-528
Print publication date: 01/07/2022
Online publication date: 04/04/2022
Acceptance date: 13/01/2022
Date deposited: 12/01/2022
ISSN (print): 2096-5524
ISSN (electronic): 2522-8552
Publisher: Springer Nature
URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42242-022-00192-5
DOI: 10.1007/s42242-022-00192-5
ePrints DOI: 10.57711/6dmm-2a40
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