Shanghai News, China News Online, February 22 (Xu Jing) Recently, the National Children's Medical Center (Shanghai), Shanghai Children's Medical Center Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine Fu Wei, Wang Wei's team, and Donghua University Professor You Zhengwei's team published research results titled "Intrinsically Cryopreservable Bacteriostatic Durable Glycerohydrogel Inks for 3D Bioprinting" in authoritative journals Matter (Chinese name "Mate (antibacterial 3D bioprinting glycerol hydrogel inks for direct cell freezing).
The concept of using glycerol to regulate the state of "free water" to synthesize glycerol hydrogel bio-ink was first proposed in this paper, and it was later confirmed that the bio-ink has antibacterial properties, shape fidelity, and is suitable for 3D bioprinting and cell cryopreservation. A variety of properties, such as protection, have numerous biomedical application possibilities.
Because 3D bioprinting can create 3D tissue models with varying shapes and cell components, it is becoming more important in biomedical applications and is widely used in regenerative medicine, disease modeling, and drug screening.
However, "bio-ink" is the key to 3D bioprinting. Because of its excellent biocompatibility and ability to mimic the extracellular matrix, hydrogel has become one of the most commonly used bio-ink materials. Previous research on hydrogel bio-inks concentrated primarily on the cytocompatibility and cell viability of 3D bio-printed tissues. Ordinary hydrogel bio-ink, on the other hand, objectively provides a moist and closed environment for bacteria to multiply, and the contained water is easily evaporated. Problems such as the poor antibacterial ability of bio-inks, long-term shape retention of 3D printed tissues, and poor cryopreservation effect of 3D printed tissues have hampered the advancement of 3D bioprinting technology.
At present, from a global perspective, it is urgent to establish a new bio-ink system to promote the practical application of 3D printing technology.
The limited "free water" in Shanghai Children's Medical Center and Donghua University's multifunctional glycerin hydrogel is not conducive to bacterial reproduction and can significantly inhibit the growth of E. coli and mold. Glycerol hydrogel scaffolds prepared through 3D printing were also able to maintain shape fidelity by inhibiting "water" evaporation, and cells in glycerol hydrogels demonstrated higher activity than cells in ordinary hydrogels. Furthermore, because the majority of the water in the glycerol hydrogel is bound together, inhibiting crystallization, the printed tissue can be cryopreserved directly without the addition of cryoprotectants.
According to reports, this ink could be used in the future for in vitro bioprinting of various tissues and organs. Furthermore, because the hydrogel system has antibacterial, shape maintenance, and cell protection functions, it can be used for in vivo cell therapy, aiding in cell retention and therapeutic effect.