Progress towards 3D Bioprinting of blood supply: steps towards production of functional blood vessels presage production of other viable body part replacements
Curator and Author: Justin Pearlman MD PhD
3D printing of human tissue requires a blood supply to support tissues that are more than a few millimeters thick. In recognition of the importance of achieving bioprinting with functioning vasculature, a Chinese company has committed to building a BioPrinter and BioInk (cell precursors and support) focused on vasculogenesis suitable for human implants. Meanwhile, researchers in the United States and in Australia have succeeded in printing vascular trees, for example, a branching vascular-like structure that supported blood circulation when grafted to a rat. The vascular pathways are printed within surrounding structures as a dissolvable substance (e.g., sugar) subesquently removed. Remaining steps include establishing adequacy of tissue perfusion and sustainable viability of the vessel integrity and function as well as survival of the surrounding tissue. Adult humans maintain abilities to remodel blood vessels (vasculogenesis, arteriogenesis, angiogenesis) so it may suffice to provide printed blood conduits and precursor cells and/or stimulants as a bridge and scaffold to vasculature development plus tissue perfusion in vivo, if they can meet the milestones of adequacy of biosafety, support of blood circulation, tissue perfusion, sustainability, as well as adaptation with promotion of growth and remodelling as needed.
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BY MICHAEL MOLITCH-HOU ON MON, OCTOBER 26, 2015 · 3D PRINTERS,3D PRINTING, ASIA, BIOPRINTING 1 COMMENT
In the video below, you’ll see the blood vessel printer working two nozzles alternatively to 3D print biocompatible tissues in the shape of a blood vessel. It is claimed that the system is capable of creating a 10-cm tube in just two minutes. The material is then placed into a culture of stem cells, growth factors, and nutrients, where Revotek says that it can differentiate the cells necessary to create a functioning blood vessel, keeping the stem cells active the whole time.
Kang Yujian, chief scientist at Revotek, explains, “The core of the printer is the BioBrick, in which there are stem cells. Given certain environment and conditions, it [the stem cell] can, according to our requirements, differentiate into the cells we need.” Dai Kerong, an academic at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, adds, “The achievement is not just about printing one blood vessel, but finding the method of sustaining vascular cells and other active substances. The method is useful in blood vessel printing, and in the printings of livers, kidneys and other organs.”
There are numerous cases of researchers and businesses working to 3D print blood vessels, which would be necessary to bring blood flow to cells being cultivated into complex organ tissues. Researchers at Harvard were able to print blood vessels in February of 2014; the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) is working towards the same goal; and the Fraunhofer Institute has its ArtiVasc3D project. The implication here is that Revotek has fully completed its system, paving the way for commercial and research use.
China’s Sichuan Revotek Announces Creation of Stem Cell Bio-Ink Technology, 3D Bio-Printer, Software
With both China as an up-and-coming player in the 3D printing industry and bioprinting as the biggest new process on the horizon, it’s no surprise that the two have come together, culminating in what could offer to serve as one of the most significant breakthroughs yet.
According to biotechnological company Sichuan Revotek Co., Ltd based in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, they are responsible for becoming the first producer of 3D printed blood vessels.
While the concepts of bioprinting are clear in terms of using 3D printers to facilitate the fabrication of live tissue and cellular structures with the goal being to stretch that toward organs, what has been truly challenging up until now is finding the tools and materials that can handle the job. From the software to the hardware and the actual ink, these are the areas those in research and development have reported lacking.
Now, Sichuan Revotek reports that not only do they know how to bioprint the blood vessels, but they have a comprehensive plan for doing so. They claim to have produced a full package to consist of stem cell bio-ink technology, a 3D bio-printer, and even a cloud computing platform.
“The creative breakthrough in the 3D blood vessel bio-printing means we have mastered the stem cell-based 3D bio-printing technology,” said Yang Keng, chairman of Sichuan Languang Development Co, Ltd.
This research and development program was headed up by James Kang. An expert in the area, he explains a little bit of basic information about blood vessels, as in essence they are an intricate and crucial part of bioprinting because they are the vehicles by which important nutrients travel to organs; thus, if scientists are hoping to produce 3D printed organs soon, they will need to be able to create these ‘indispensable elements’ for fabricating organs. Having the correct tools in place to make these elements overcomes a giant hurdle as so much of the problem is in producing the tissue gently so as not to damage or kill it all together.
“We have successfully realised the blood vessel regeneration by relying on the 3D bio-printer, the biosynsphere technology and the data model based on cloud computing,” Kang said.
The bio-ink that Kang and his company have developed is called Biosynsphere, and it is meant to offer patient-specific bioprinting for stem cells. This should add to the continued progress and eventual goal of many scientists hoping to be 3D printing organs in the near future.
The building of a foundation toward 3D printing organs is very important in that scientists could transform the traditional process of offering patients organ transplants. It’s possible that the days of long waiting lists and issues with organ rejection would be eliminated as 3D printing would offer immediate results with patient specific tissue. Being able to create the artificial network required with blood vessels is one more huge advance for the medical industry toward the eventual fabrication of organs.
What will this new ink eventually lead to? Let’s hear your thoughts in the 3D Printing Stem Cells forumthread on 3DPB.com.
[Source: NDTV]
Researchers successfully 3D print blood vessels, a ‘game changer’ for artificial organs
Above: An illustration of the inside of a blood vessel.
Hundreds of thousands of people die annually because the demand for organs far exceeds the donor supply. Artificial organs could save those lives — and scientists just made a huge breakthrough in the field by “bio-printing” artificial vascular networks.
Researchers from the University of Sydney, MIT, Harvard, and Stanford have successfully bio-printed blood vessels, offering 3D-printed organs access to nutrients, oxygen, and waste-disposal routes, according to a study published Monday.
“While recreating little parts of tissues in the lab is something that we have already been able to do, the possibility of printing three-dimensional tissues with functional blood capillaries in the blink of an eye is a game changer,” said Dr. Luiz Bertassoni, the study’s lead author and a University of Sydney researcher.
To 3D print vascular networks, the researchers fabricated fine, interconnected fibers with an advanced bioprinter. Then they coated those fibers with human endothelial cells — these sit between circulating blood and vessel walls in the interior of blood vessels — and subsequently applied a protein-based material. They hardened the whole structure with light, then delicately removed the fibers, leaving behind a complex network of hollow cell material. After a week, those cells organized themselves into stable capillaries.
Cells inside the bioprinted vascular networks survived, differentiated, and proliferated at better rates than cells that received no nutrient supply.
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