Parametric Study of Jet/Droplet Formation Process during LIFT Printing of Living Cell-Laden Bioink.

Christina Kryou,Antonios Hatziapostolou,Apostolos Klinakis,Ioannis Theodorakos,Ioanna Zergioti,Panagiotis Karakaidos

doi:10.3390/mi12111408

Christina Kryou, Antonios Hatziapostolou + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12111408

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Abstract

Bioprinting offers great potential for the fabrication of three-dimensional living tissues by the precise layer-by-layer printing of biological materials, including living cells and cell-laden hydrogels. The laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) of cell-laden bioinks is one of the most promising laser-printing technologies enabling biofabrication. However, for it to be a viable bioprinting technology, bioink printability must be carefully examined. In this study, we used a time-resolved imaging system to study the cell-laden bioink droplet formation process in terms of the droplet size, velocity, and traveling distance. For this purpose, the bioinks were prepared using breast cancer cells with different cell concentrations to evaluate the effect of the cell concentration on the droplet formation process and the survival of the cells after printing. These bioinks were compared with cell-free bioinks under the same printing conditions to understand the effect of the particle physical properties on the droplet formation procedure. The morphology of the printed droplets indicated that it is possible to print uniform droplets for a wide range of cell concentrations. Overall, it is concluded that the laser fluence and the distance of the donor–receiver substrates play an important role in the printing impingement type; consequently, a careful adjustment of these parameters can lead to high-quality printing.

Highlights

The present study focuses on assessing the effect of the cell concentration on the transfer mechanism in the case of Newtonian liquids, and its correlation with the morphology of the printed droplets
The laser beam is impinging the donor substrate from above, with the receiver substrate being placed at a distance of 500 μm with respect to the donor substrate
The printing regimes during laser printing are classified into the subthreshold, well-defined printing, and plume into the subthreshold, well-defined printing, and plume regimes

Summary

Introduction

Different bioprinting techniques can be employed, including drop-on-demand techniques, such as inkjet printing [4], laser-based printing [5,6], as well as extrusion printing [7]. Among all these technologies, laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) is a laser-based printing technique that enables the simultaneous transfer and patterning of material from a donor to a receiver substrate, with a lateral resolution down to a few micrometers [8]. The LIFT technique has been applied to print with various high-precision biomaterials, including proteins [18], DNA [19], living

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