The following study was conducted by Scientists from Building Block Science Joint Research Chair, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Japan. Study is published in Scientific Reports Journal as detailed below.
Scientific Reports; Volume 10, Article Number: 5484; (2020)
Vascularized Cardiac Tissue Construction with Orientation by Layer-by-Layer Method and 3D Printer
Abstract
Herein, we report the fabrication of native organ-like three-dimensional (3D) cardiac tissue with an oriented structure and vascular network using a layer-by-layer (LbL), cell accumulation and 3D printing technique for regenerative medicine and pharmaceutical applications. We firstly evaluated the 3D shaping ability of hydroxybutyl chitosan (HBC), a thermoresponsive polymer, by using a robotic dispensing 3D printer. Next, we tried to fabricate orientation-controlled 3D cardiac tissue using human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CM) and normal human cardiac fibroblasts (NHCF) coated with extracellular matrix (ECM) nanofilms by layer-by-layer technique. These cells were seeded in the fabricated rectangular shape HBC gel frame. After cultivation of the fabricated tissue, fluorescence staining of the cytoskeleton revealed that hiPSC-CM and NHCF were aligned in one direction. Moreover, we were able to measure its contractile behavior using a video image analysis system. These results indicate that orientation-controlled cardiac tissue has more remarkable contractile function than uncontrolled cardiac tissue. Finally, co-culture with human cardiac microvascular endothelial cells (HMVEC) successfully provided a vascular network in orientation-controlled 3D cardiac tissue. The constructed 3D cardiac tissue with an oriented structure and vascular network would be a useful tool for regenerative medicine and pharmaceutical applications.
Source:
Scientific Reports
URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-59371-y
Citation:
Tsukamoto, Y., T. Akagi, et al. (2020). “Vascularized cardiac tissue construction with orientation by layer-by-layer method and 3D printer.” Scientific Reports 10(1): 5484.
