Speaker
Description
Introduction:
Current approaches in the field of tissue engineering are represented by either scaffold-based or scaffold-free[1]. The work here represents an emerging third option which is possible thanks to the development of novel photocrosslinkable and biodegradable materials processable using 2-photon polymerization
Experimental methods:
Photopolymerizable resin is based on a multifunctional acrylate-endcapped urethane-based poly(caprolactone) (AUP-PCL)[2] dissolved in THF with M2CMK at 10mM as photo-initiator. Micro-size scaffolds were printed using 2-photopolymerization (2PP), with a femtosecond laser at 800nm, 10x microscope objective, at intensities ranging from 20 to 300 mW at 1000 mm.s-1. After cleaning, each microscaffold was incubated with a cell suspension of human-adipose derived stem cells (hASC) until formation of spheroids.
Results Discussion:
After printing optimization, microscaffolds of Ø 300 µm with struts of ± 35 µm based on degradable AUP-PCL were successfully produced using 2PP, within 20 sec (Fig 1A). An optimal structural integrity could be reached when using a laser intensity of 75 mW. When seeded in agarose micro-well, the resulting BB supported spheroid formation. The capability of the hASCs to form spheroids was not impacted by the presence of the printed BB. Importantly, the presence of the “exoskeleton” based on PCL brings significant advantage in building macro-size tissue through spheroid self-assembly as neither tissue compaction nor volume shrinkage was observed, compared to conventional spheroid-based tissues.
Conclusions:
Highly porous microscaffolds can be produced with 2PP and can host one single spheroid. Once cultivated together, those hybrid spheroids can form large assemblies, which offers great perspectives to reconstitute complex tissue defects.
References:
[1] Ovsianikov A. et al., Trends in Biotechnology, Vol. 36, No. 4, 2018. [2] Arslan A. et al., Materials Today, 2020.
Acknowlegments:
European Research Council (Consolidator Grant 772464 A.O.)
| Speaker Country | Austria |
|---|