New "ink" has been invented for bioprinters
Bio-ink with cells for printing artificial fabrics
ChemPort.Ru based on Biomaterials Science: Bio-ink for on-demand printing of living cellsResearchers from Australia have come close to developing a way to create artificial tissues by printing matrices from living cells – they have developed new bio-ink for an inkjet printer, allowing cells not to lose viability at the time of printing, as well as not to stick together in the printer nozzles.
One of the authors of the discovery, Marc in het Panhuis from the University of Wollongong, notes that the first biochernils used to build compositions from cells with a given structure were ordinary salt solutions containing cells. However, the cells in such inks were subjected to aggregation, which made printing difficult. If the salt concentration was increased, the ability of cells to coagulate decreases, but at the same time their viability in solution decreases significantly.
Other biochernils contain solutions of polymers with low viscosity, which are known to slow down cell aggregation. The biochernils developed by the researchers contain a biopolymer – gellan gum and two surfactants dissolved in a standard liquid used for cell culture. Surfactants - Novec FC4430 and Poloxamer 188 – lower the surface tension, ensuring optimal application of the solution to the substrate using an inkjet printer, and also protect cells from mechanical damage.
Due to the fact that the biopolymer forms a structured network that allows cells to be "suspended" in the gel, cells cannot aggregate. Nevertheless, such biochernils can be used for printing – the gel is not extremely rigid and breaks down directly during the printing process without any problems. Panuis notes that the researchers could print for a long time without replacing the printer heads, and without adding a new portion of ink. The researchers printed the cells onto a collagen hydrogel, which served as a substrate for the cells, preventing their dehydration.
New biochernils were applied to the substrate of cells of various lines.
Such printing could be carried out for a long time,
without replacing the printer heads, and without adding new ink.
(Drawing from Biomater. Sci.)
Paul Calvert, an expert on regenerated biomaterials from the University of Massachusetts, notes that the technique of growing artificial tissues by printing cells will become practically useful – no matter – with this type of ink or another, when a method is developed to load cells into cartridges and maintain cell viability in such cartridges until they are printed. It is necessary to develop a method of feeding cell culture in a cartridge, as well as a printing method that would not allow the nozzles of the inkjet printer to clog. He notes that the new development solves the problem of stable printing, but is not yet able to talk about long-term maintenance of cell viability in "cartridges for printing artificial tissues."
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru13.11.2012