3D-Printed Demineralized Bone Matrix-Based Conductive Scaffolds Combined with Electrical Stimulation for Bone Tissue Engineering Applications.

Bone is remodeled through a dynamic process facilitated by biophysical cues that support cellular signaling. In healthy bone, signaling pathways are regulated by cells and the extracellular matrix and transmitted via electrical synapses. To this end, combining electrical stimulation (ES) with conductive scaffolding is a promising approach for repairing damaged bone tissue.

3D-Printed conductive polymeric scaffolds with direct current electrical stimulation for enhanced bone regeneration.

Various methods have been used to treat bone defects caused by genetic disorders, injury, or disease. Yet, there is still great need to develop alternative approaches to repair damaged bone tissue. Bones naturally exhibit piezoelectric potential, or the ability to convert mechanical stresses into electrical impulses.

Conductive Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering: Current State and Future Outlook.

Bone tissue engineering strategies attempt to regenerate bone tissue lost due to injury or disease. Three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds maintain structural integrity and provide support, while improving tissue regeneration through amplified cellular responses between implanted materials and native tissues. Through this, scaffolds that show great osteoinductive abilities as well as desirable mechanical properties have been studied.

Bioprinted Three-Dimensional Cell-Laden Hydrogels to Evaluate Adipocyte-Breast Cancer Cell Interactions.

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting, although still in its infancy as a fabrication tool, has the potential to effectively mimic many biological environments. Cell-laden 3D printed structures have demonstrated to be an improvement from the widely used monolayer platforms, largely because of recapitulation of native tissue architecture with the 3D structures. Thus, 3D models have been increasingly investigated for improved modeling of cell and disease systems, such as for breast cancer.

4D Biofabrication Using Shape-Morphing Hydrogels.

Despite the tremendous potential of bioprinting techniques toward the fabrication of highly complex biological structures and the flourishing progress in 3D bioprinting, the most critical challenge of the current approaches is the printing of hollow tubular structures. In this work, an advanced 4D biofabrication approach, based on printing of shape-morphing biopolymer hydrogels, is developed for the fabrication of hollow self-folding tubes with unprecedented control over their diameters and architectures at high resolution. The versatility of the approach is demonstrated by employing two different biopolymers (alginate and hyaluronic acid) and mouse bone marrow stromal cells.

Lithium-end-capped polylactide thin films influence osteoblast progenitor cell differentiation and mineralization.

End-capping by covalently binding functional groups to the ends of polymer chains offers potential advantages for tissue engineering scaffolds, but the ability of such polymers to influence cell behavior has not been studied. As a demonstration, polylactide (PLA) was end-capped with lithium carboxylate ionic groups (hPLA13kLi) and evaluated. Thin films of the hPLA13kLi and PLA homopolymer were prepared with and without surface texturing.

Characterization of the differentiation and leptin secretion profile of adult stem cells on patterned polylactide films.

Several issues need to be better understood before breast tissue engineering becomes a clinically viable option. One of the most important aspects is the interaction between cells and the microtopography of the implant surface. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of D1 cells, multipotent mouse bone marrow stromal precursors, in differentiating to adipocytes and to characterize their metabolic activity (lactic acid released and glucose consumed), leptin secretion and lipid production when cultured on patterned poly(L-lactide) (PLLA) films.

Stem cells and adipose tissue engineering.

A large proportion of the plastic and reconstructive surgical procedures performed each year are to repair soft tissue defects that result from traumatic injury, tumor resection, and congenital defects. These defects typically result from the loss of a large volume of adipose tissue. To date, no ideal filler material which is successful in all cases has been developed.