Millimeter-thick 3D tissues constructed by densely cellularized core–shell microfluidic bioprinting

Abstract

Recently, microfluidic bioprinting methods, which utilize microfluidic devices as printheads to deposit microfilaments, have improved printing resolution. Despite the precise placement of cells, current efforts have not succeeded in forming densely cellularized tissue within the printed constructs, which is highly desired for the biofabrication of solid-organ tissues with firm tissue consistency. In this paper, we presented a microfluidic bioprinting method to fabricate three dimension tissue constructs consisting of core–shell microfibers where extracellular matrices and cells can be encapsulated within the core of the fibers. Using the optimized printhead design and printing parameters, we demonstrated the bioprinting of core–shell microfibers into macroscale constructs and checked the viability of cells after printing. After culturing the printed tissues using the proposed dynamic culture methods, we analyzed the morphology and function of the tissues both in vitro and in vivo. The confluent tissue morphology in the fiber cores indicates the establishment of intensive cell–cell contacts in the fiber cores, which also leads to the upregulation of the albumin-secretion function compared to the cells cultured in a 2D format. Analysis on the cell density of the confluent fiber cores indicate the formation of densely cellularized tissues with a similar level of cell density of in-vivo solid organ tissues. In the future, better culture techniques with improved perfusion design are anticipated to enable further the fabrication of thicker tissues, which can be used as thick tissue models or implantation grafts for cell therapy.