abstract
The development of bioink formulations with suitable properties is fundamental for the progress of 3D bioprinting. The potential of cellulose, the most abundant biopolymer, in this realm has often been underestimated, relegating it essentially to a reinforcement additive of bioinks. In this work, cell-laden bioink formulations, composed exclusively of cellulose, viz., "all-cellulose bioinks", were developed by combining carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) in different mass proportions (90/10, 80/20, and 70/30%). The incorporation of NFC increases the printability of the inks (from Pr = 0.7 to 0.9) while maintaining their shear-thinning behavior, and increasing contents of NFC also decrease the degradation rate of the hydrogels after 7 days. The bioprinting of the cell-laden formulations, with HaCaT (keratinocyte) and ATDC5 (chondrogenic) cells, resulted in high (>80%) cell viabilities for up to 7 days, corroborating the versatility of the bioinks and their potential to originate distinct 3D living structures for biomedical applications.
keywords
BIO-INKS; ALGINATE; NANOCELLULOSE
subject category
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Chemistry; Polymer Science
authors
Carvalho, JPF; Lameirinhas, NS; Teixeira, MC; Luis, JL; Oliveira, H; Oliveira, JM; Silvestre, AJD; Vilela, C; Freire, CSR
our authors
Armando Jorge Domingues Silvestre
Full professor
Carla Vilela
Assistant Professor
Carmen Sofia da Rocha Freire Barros
Coordinating Researcher
Helena Oliveira
Post-Doc Fellowship
J. Martinho Oliveira
Coordinator Professor
João Pedro Fernandes Carvalho
PhD Student
Jorge Louro Luís
Laboratory OfficerProjects
CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDB/50011/2020)
CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDP/50011/2020)
Associated Laboratory CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials (LA/P/0006/2020)
acknowledgements
This work was developed within the scope of the projects CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, UIDB/50011/2020 (DOI 10.54499/UIDB/50011/2020), UIDP/50011/2020 (DOI 10.54499/UIDP/50011/2020), and LA/P/0006/2020 (DOI 10.54499/LA/P/0006/2020) and CESAM (UIDP/50017/2020, UIDB/50017/2020, and LA/P/0094/2020), financed by national funds through the FCT/MEC (PIDDAC), and financially supported by the project I&D "NANOBIOINKS-Engineering bio-based nanofibers for the development of high-performance nanostructured bioinks for 3D bioprinting, CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-031289" funded by the Operational Program of the Center Region, in its FEDER/FNR component, and by national funds (OE), through FCT/MCTES. FCT is acknowledged for the doctoral grants to J.P.F.C (2020.09018.BD, DOI 10.54499/2020.09018.BD) and N.S.L. (SFRH/BD/140229/2018 and COVID/BD/152978/2022) and the research contracts under Scientific Employment Stimulus to C.S.R.F. (DOI 10.54499/CEECIND/00464/2017/CP1459/CT0033), C.V. (DOI 10.54499/2021.01571.CEECIND/CP1659/CT0024), and H.O. (DOI 10.54499/CEECIND/04050/2017/CP1459/CT0023). Confocal fluorescence image acquisition was performed in the LiM facility of iBiMED, a node of PPBI (Portuguese Platform of BioImaging): POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022122.