TY - JOUR
T1 - Creation of Porous, Perfusable Microtubular Networks for Improved Cell Viability in Volumetric Hydrogels
AU - Buckley, Christian
AU - Wang, Haoyu
AU - O’Dell, Robert
AU - Del Rosario, Matthew
AU - Parimala Chelvi Ratnamani, Matangi
AU - Rome, Mark
AU - Wang, Hongjun
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2024/4/17
Y1 - 2024/4/17
N2 - The creation of large, volumetric tissue-engineered constructs has long been hindered due to the lack of effective vascularization strategies. Recently, 3D printing has emerged as a viable approach to creating vascular structures; however, its application is limited. Here, we present a simple and controllable technique to produce porous, free-standing, perfusable tubular networks from sacrificial templates of polyelectrolyte complex and coatings of salt-containing citrate-based elastomer poly(1,8-octanediol-co-citrate) (POC). As demonstrated, fully perfusable and interconnected POC tubular networks with channel diameters ranging from 100 to 400 μm were created. Incorporating NaCl particulates into the POC coating enabled the formation of micropores (∼19 μm in diameter) in the tubular wall upon particulate leaching to increase the cross-wall fluid transport. Casting and cross-linking gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) suspended with human osteoblasts over the free-standing porous POC tubular networks led to the fabrication of 3D cell-encapsulated constructs. Compared to the constructs without POC tubular networks, those with either solid or porous wall tubular networks exhibited a significant increase in cell viability and proliferation along with healthy cell morphology, particularly those with porous networks. Taken together, the sacrificial template-assisted approach is effective to fabricate tubular networks with controllable channel diameter and patency, which can be easily incorporated into cell-encapsulated hydrogels or used as tissue-engineering scaffolds to improve cell viability.
AB - The creation of large, volumetric tissue-engineered constructs has long been hindered due to the lack of effective vascularization strategies. Recently, 3D printing has emerged as a viable approach to creating vascular structures; however, its application is limited. Here, we present a simple and controllable technique to produce porous, free-standing, perfusable tubular networks from sacrificial templates of polyelectrolyte complex and coatings of salt-containing citrate-based elastomer poly(1,8-octanediol-co-citrate) (POC). As demonstrated, fully perfusable and interconnected POC tubular networks with channel diameters ranging from 100 to 400 μm were created. Incorporating NaCl particulates into the POC coating enabled the formation of micropores (∼19 μm in diameter) in the tubular wall upon particulate leaching to increase the cross-wall fluid transport. Casting and cross-linking gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) suspended with human osteoblasts over the free-standing porous POC tubular networks led to the fabrication of 3D cell-encapsulated constructs. Compared to the constructs without POC tubular networks, those with either solid or porous wall tubular networks exhibited a significant increase in cell viability and proliferation along with healthy cell morphology, particularly those with porous networks. Taken together, the sacrificial template-assisted approach is effective to fabricate tubular networks with controllable channel diameter and patency, which can be easily incorporated into cell-encapsulated hydrogels or used as tissue-engineering scaffolds to improve cell viability.
KW - 3D embedded printing
KW - GelMA cell casting
KW - poly(1,8-octanediol-co-citrate)
KW - polyelectrolyte complex (PEC)
KW - tubular networks
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85189534140&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85189534140&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acsami.4c00716
DO - 10.1021/acsami.4c00716
M3 - Article
C2 - 38564436
AN - SCOPUS:85189534140
SN - 1944-8244
VL - 16
SP - 18522
EP - 18533
JO - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
JF - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
IS - 15
ER -