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Development and Characterization of a 3D Printed, Keratin-Based Hydrogel

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

Abstract

Keratin, a naturally-derived polymer derived from human hair, is physiologically biodegradable, provides adequate cell support, and can self-assemble or be crosslinked to form hydrogels. Nevertheless, it has had limited use in tissue engineering and has been mainly used as casted scaffolds for drug or growth factor delivery applications. Here, we present and assess a novel method for the printed, sequential production of 3D keratin scaffolds. Using a riboflavin-SPS-hydroquinone (initiator–catalyst–inhibitor) photosensitive solution we produced 3D keratin constructs via UV crosslinking in a lithography-based 3D printer. The hydrogels obtained have adequate printing resolution and result in compressive and dynamic mechanical properties, uptake and swelling capacities, cytotoxicity, and microstructural characteristics that are comparable or superior to those of casted keratin scaffolds previously reported. The novel keratin-based printing resin and printing methodology presented have the potential to impact future research by providing an avenue to rapidly and reproducibly manufacture patient-specific hydrogels for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications.

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Acknowledgments

This material is based upon work supported by USAMRAA under Contract No. W81XWH-14-C-0022. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAMRAA. The authors thank the Fulbright Scholars Program (JNR), NIST grant program 2014-NIST-MSE-01 (MJL), and the SEEDS Undergraduate Research Fellowship program at the University of Maryland (GWL). Authors gratefully acknowledge Dr. Greg Gillen and Dr. Scott A. Wight at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, Gaithersburg, MD) for the training and use of their FEI Quanta 200F Environmental SEM and Coating Equipment.

Conflict of interest

JKP, GWL, JNR, MJL and JPF declare no conflicts of interest. ARG, GJH, EEF, ST, and LB are employed by KeraNetics, LLC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, 2330 Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building, 8228 Paint Branch Drive, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Jesse K. Placone, Javier Navarro, Gregory W. Laslo & John P. Fisher

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Max J. Lerman

  3. KeraNetics, LLC, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

    Alexis R. Gabard, Gregory J. Herendeen, Erin E. Falco, Seth Tomblyn & Luke Burnett

Authors
  1. Jesse K. Placone
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  2. Javier Navarro
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  3. Gregory W. Laslo
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  8. Seth Tomblyn
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  10. John P. Fisher
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Correspondence to John P. Fisher.

Additional information

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

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Placone, J.K., Navarro, J., Laslo, G.W. et al. Development and Characterization of a 3D Printed, Keratin-Based Hydrogel. Ann Biomed Eng 45, 237–248 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-016-1621-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-016-1621-7

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