Sedimentation Study of Bioink Containing Living Cells

Abstract

Abstract 3D bioprinting has more and more applications in tissue engineering, in vitro drug testing, and regenerative medicine. The bioink consisting of the biocompatible polymer (as extracellular matrix) and the living cells is the starting material. Because the typical bioprinting process may take several hours, the suspended cells in the bioink sediment with time, which significantly affects the bioink stability as well as the following bioprinting quality and reliability. The cell sedimentation is determined by the integral effects of drag force and buoyancy and gravity. The gravitational force is related to the cells, and the drag force and buoyant force is related to the polymer concentration. This paper is the first paper to quantify the cell sedimentation process of the bioink within 0.5% and 1% (w/v) polymer concentrations respectively. The cell sedimentation phenomenon has been observed using the bioink within 0.5% and 1% (w/v) polymer concentrations. The cell sedimentation velocity has been estimated to be 1.18 μm/s with the polymer concentrations to be 0.5% (w/v) and 0.88 μm/s for the bioink with the polymer concentrations to be 1% (w/v). It is also found that the cell concentration increases significantly at the bottom of the bioink reservoir, resulting in cell aggregates due to cell-cell interaction.