3D Bioprinting of Self‐Standing Silk‐Based Bioink
Abstract
Silk/polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogels are studied as self‐standing bioinks for 3D printing for tissue engineering. The two components of the bioink, silk fibroin protein (silk) and PEG, are both Food and Drug Administration approved materials in drug and medical device products. Mixing PEG with silk induces silk β‐sheet structure formation and thus gelation and water insolubility due to physical crosslinking. A variety of constructs with high resolution, high shape fidelity, and homogeneous gel matrices are printed. When human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells are premixed with the silk solution prior to printing and the constructs are cultured in this medium, the cell‐loaded constructs maintain their shape over at least 12 weeks. Interestingly, the cells grow faster in the higher silk concentration (10%, w/v) gel than in lower ones (7.5 and 5%, w/v), likely due to the difference in material stiffness and the amount of residual PEG remaining in the gel related to material hydrophobicity. Subcutaneous implantation of 7.5% (w/v) bioink gels with and without printed fibroblast cells in mice reveals that the cells survive and proliferate in the gel matrix for at least 6 week postimplantation. The results suggest that these silk/PEG bioink gels may provide suitable scaffold environments for cell printing and function.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Jan 02, 2018
- Source ID
- 10.1002/adhm.201701026
Entities
People
- Chunmei Li
- David L. Kaplan
- Gang Li
- Hing Ong
- Jianbing Wu
- María J. Rodriguez
- Meng Liu
- Xiaoqin Wang
- Zhaozhu Zheng
Organizations
- Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine
- National Institutes of Health
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province
- Soochow University
- Tufts University