Three-dimensional printing of nanomaterial scaffolds for complex tissue regeneration

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) printing has recently expanded in popularity, and become the cutting edge of tissue engineering research. A growing emphasis from clinicians on patient-specific care, coupled with an increasing knowledge of cellular and biomaterial interaction, has led researchers to explore new methods that enable the greatest possible control over the arrangement of cells and bioactive nanomaterials in defined scaffold geometries. In this light, the cutting edge technology of 3D printing also enables researchers to more effectively compose multi-material and cell-laden scaffolds with less effort. In this review, we explore the current state of 3D printing with a focus on printing of nanomaterials and their effect on various complex tissue regeneration applications.

FIG. 1.

Several 3D printing modalities discussed in this article with examples of the resulting scaffolds. The stereolithography printed scaffold is PEG-DA, and the FDM printed scaffold is poly-lactic acid. 3D, three dimensional; FDM, fused-deposition modeling; PEG-DA, poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate. Color images available online at www.liebertpub.com/teb

FIG. 2.

Three-dimensional printing osteochondral scaffolds with designed internal structures for osteochondral defect treatment. The image is from Holmes et al. Color images available online at www.liebertpub.com/teb

FIG. 3.

(A–D) Fluorescence microscopy images of 3D printed nerve guidance scaffolds. (A) is a hyaluronic acid scaffold conjugated with laminin, and (B) shows the Schwann cells (green) that attached and grew well on the scaffold after 24 h of culture. Top views of (C) a 3D branched scaffold and (D) a multilumen nerve guidance scaffold. The images are from Suri et al. (E–H) are a 3D printed aligned PEG-DA neural construct sheet with highly conductive graphene nanoplatelets: (E) is a representative computer-aided design (CAD) model of an aligned neural construct sheet; (F) photo images of a 3D printed neural construct without (left) and with graphene nanoplatelets (right); (G, H) scanning electron microscopy images of the 3D printed scaffold with grapheme nanoplatelets at low and high magnifications. Color images available online at www.liebertpub.com/teb

FIG. 4.

(A) A 3D printed carbohydrate-glass lattice and (B) image of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (red) residing in the vascular network of a fibrin gel with uniformly distributed 10T1/2 cells (green). Scale bar=1 mm. The images are from Miller et al. Color images available online at www.liebertpub.com/teb