Extracellular Matrix Microparticles Improve GelMA Bioink Resolution for 3D Bioprinting at Ambient Temperature.

Introduction: Current bioinks for 3D bioprinting, such as gelatin-methacryloyl, are generally low viscosity fluids at room temperature, requiring specialized systems to create complex geometries.

Methods And Results: Adding decellularized extracellular matrix microparticles derived from porcine tracheal cartilage to gelatin-methacryloyl creates a yield stress fluid capable of forming self-supporting structures. This bioink blend performs similarly at 25°C to gelatin-methacryloyl alone at 15°C in linear resolution, print fidelity, and tensile mechanics.

3D bioprinting for lungs and hollow organs.

Three-dimensional bioprinting has been gaining attention as a potential method for creating biological tissues, supplementing the current arsenal of tissue engineering techniques. 3D bioprinting raises the possibility of reproducibly creating complex macro- and microscale architectures using multiple different cell types. This is promising for creation of multilayered hollow organs, which has been challenging using more traditional tissue engineering techniques.

Tracheal Cartilage Isolation and Decellularization.

Tissue decellularization allows isolation of tissue extracellular matrix components, enabling bioengineering of native tissue microenvironments with minimal antigenic components. Here we describe a method to harvest decellularized cartilage tissue from donor trachea using a series of chemical and enzymatic washes and incorporating the extracellular matrix in gelatin methacrylate hydrogels. This decellularized cartilage tissue is easily incorporated into a variety of hydrogels to create a cartilage tissue scaffold.