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Buckley C, Wang H, O'Dell R, Del Rosario M, Parimala Chelvi Ratnamani M, Rome M, Wang H. Creation of Porous, Perfusable Microtubular Networks for Improved Cell Viability in Volumetric Hydrogels. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2024; 16:18522-18533. [PMID: 38564436 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.4c00716] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/04/2024]
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Buckley
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, United States
- Semcer Center for Healthcare Innovation, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, United States
| | - Haoyu Wang
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, United States
- Semcer Center for Healthcare Innovation, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, United States
| | - Robert O'Dell
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, United States
| | - Matthew Del Rosario
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, United States
| | - Matangi Parimala Chelvi Ratnamani
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, United States
- Semcer Center for Healthcare Innovation, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, United States
| | - Mark Rome
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, United States
| | - Hongjun Wang
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, United States
- Semcer Center for Healthcare Innovation, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, United States
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