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Abstract
Microvasculature is essential for the continued function of cells in tissue and is fundamental in the fields of tissue engineering, organ repair and drug screening. However, the fabrication of microvasculature is still challenging using existing strategies. Here, we developed a general PRINting Cell Embedded Sacrificial Strategy (PRINCESS) and successfully fabricated microvasculatures using degradable DNA biolubricant. This is the first demonstration of direct cell printing to fabricate microvasculature, which eliminates the need for a subsequent cell seeding process and the associated deficiencies. Utilizing the shear-thinning property of DNA hydrogels as a novel sacrificial, cell-laden biolubricant, we can print a 70-μm endothelialized microvasculature, breaking the limit of 100 μm. To our best knowledge, this is the smallest endothelialized microvasculature that has ever been bioprinted so far. In addition, the self-healing property of DNA hydrogels allows the creation of continuous branched structures. This strategy provides a new platform for constructing complex hierarchical vascular networks and offers new opportunity towards engineering thick tissues. The extremely low volume of sacrificial biolubricant paves the way for DNA hydrogels to be used in practical tissue engineering applications. The high-resolution bioprinting technique also exhibits great potential for printing lymphatics, retinas and neural networks in the future.
Original language | English |
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Article number | e202417510 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Angewandte Chemie International Edition |
Early online date | 26 Oct 2024 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 26 Oct 2024 |
Keywords
- microvasculature
- DNA biolubricant
- 3D bioprinting
- tissue engineering
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Dive into the research topics of 'Printing cell embedded sacrificial strategy for microvasculature using degradable DNA biolubricant'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
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Real-time Digital Twin Assisted Surgery
Shu, W. (Principal Investigator), Connolly, P. (Co-investigator), Kazakidi, A. (Co-investigator) & Luo, X. (Co-investigator)
EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council)
1/09/23 → 31/08/27
Project: Research