Applications of 3D bioprinting in tissue engineering: advantages, deficiencies, improvements, and future perspectives.

Over the past decade, 3D bioprinting technology has progressed tremendously in the field of tissue engineering in its ability to fabricate individualized biological constructs with precise geometric designability, which offers us the capability to bridge the divergence between engineered tissue constructs and natural tissues. In this work, we first review the current widely used 3D bioprinting approaches, cells, and materials. Next, the updated applications of this technique in tissue engineering, including bone tissue, cartilage tissue, vascular grafts, skin, neural tissue, heart tissue, liver tissue and lung tissue, are briefly introduced.

Preparation and characterization of an injectable composite.

Hydrogels are increasingly used in medicine due to their potential to be delivered into the body in a minimally invasive manner and to be gelated at the site of introduction subsequently. The aim of this study was to develop a novel injectable and in situ-forming gel composite (GC) comprised of calcium alginate hydrogel and nano-hydroxyapatite/collagen (nHAC), assess its rheological, mechanical and in vitro degradable properties, and discuss the gelation mechanism. Injectable property test showed that the injectability of GC was tunable.

[Preparation and characterization of a new injectable bone substitute-carrageenan/nano-hydroxyapatite/collagen].

Objective: To develop a new injectable biomaterial carrageenan/nano-hydroxyapatite/collagen (nHAC/Carr) for bone surgery and characterize it.

Methods: nHAC/Carr was developed by filling carrageenan with nano-hydroxyapatite/collagen (nHAC) granules.

Results: It was found that nHAC/Carr had similar X-ray diffraction patterns with that of nHAC.