3D printing of poly(ethylene oxide) or electrospun polystyrene microtube embedded sodium alginate and carboxymethyl cellulose hydrogel

Abstract

Tissue engineering has gained numerous attentions in recent years and was considered the one of the alternative treatments for tissue regeneration and organ repair. Nowadays, many natural and synthetic materials were selected as biomaterial to fabricate artificial tissue scaffolds. However, poor mechanical strength and biocompatibility are still challenging. In this study, polystyrene (PS) electrospun microtubes and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) were added into carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)/sodium alginate (SA) composite hydrogel for printing. Viscosity, filament size, filament collapse, swelling, tensile, and compressive tests were applied to investigate their different properties. The results indicated that the addition of PS microtubes in SA hydrogel significantly increased filament size. Although the addition of PEO and microtubes had less influences on printability, the group of CMC/SA/PEO presented the highest collapse area factor. The tensile test showed that CMC/SA/PS had highest tensile strength and elongation. This research verified the feasibility of adding microtubes into hydrogel as potential soft tissue scaffolds material.