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Alginate Sulfate–Nanocellulose Bioinks for Cartilage Bioprinting Applications

  • Additive Manufacturing of Biomaterials, Tissues, and Organs
  • Published:
Annals of Biomedical Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

One of the challenges of bioprinting is to identify bioinks which support cell growth, tissue maturation, and ultimately the formation of functional grafts for use in regenerative medicine. The influence of this new biofabrication technology on biology of living cells, however, is still being evaluated. Recently we have identified a mitogenic hydrogel system based on alginate sulfate which potently supports chondrocyte phenotype, but is not printable due to its rheological properties (no yield point). To convert alginate sulfate to a printable bioink, it was combined with nanocellulose, which has been shown to possess very good printability. The alginate sulfate/nanocellulose ink showed good printing properties and the non-printed bioink material promoted cell spreading, proliferation, and collagen II synthesis by the encapsulated cells. When the bioink was printed, the biological performance of the cells was highly dependent on the nozzle geometry. Cell spreading properties were maintained with the lowest extrusion pressure and shear stress. However, extruding the alginate sulfate/nanocellulose bioink and chondrocytes significantly compromised cell proliferation, particularly when using small diameter nozzles and valves.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by ETH Research Grant ETH-23 14-1, the Swiss National Foundation (315230_159783 and 315230_143667), FIFA/F-MARC and EU program Eureka and Vinnova. The authors acknowledge support of the Scientific Center for Optical and Electron Microscopy (ScopeM) of ETH Zurich. The II-II6B3 col 2 antibody developed by T.F. Linsenmayer and the proteoglycan hyaluronic acid-binding region antibody (12/21/1-C-6) developed by B. Caterson were obtained from the Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank, created by the NICHD of the NIH and maintained at The University of Iowa, Department of Biology, Iowa City, IA 52242. We also thank Daniel Hägg, Theo Kalogeropoulus, Hector Martinez and Athanasios Mantas for their help with this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cartilage Engineering + Regeneration Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences & Technology, ETH Zürich, Otto-Stern-Weg 7, HPL J22, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland

    Michael Müller, Ece Öztürk & Marcy Zenobi-Wong

  2. Department of Biotechnology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Sem Sælands vei 6/8, 7034, Trondheim, Norway

    Øystein Arlov

  3. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Wallenberg Wood Science Center and 3D Bioprinting Center, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Paul Gatenholm

Authors
  1. Michael Müller
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  2. Ece Öztürk
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  3. Øystein Arlov
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  4. Paul Gatenholm
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  5. Marcy Zenobi-Wong
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marcy Zenobi-Wong.

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Associate Editor Amir Abbas Zadpoor oversaw the review of this article.

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Müller, M., Öztürk, E., Arlov, Ø. et al. Alginate Sulfate–Nanocellulose Bioinks for Cartilage Bioprinting Applications. Ann Biomed Eng 45, 210–223 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-016-1704-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-016-1704-5

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