Complex fluid-based supramolecular hydrogels for 3D bioprinting
3D bioprinting holds tremendous promise in the fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. By providing precise control over the arrangement of cells and biomaterials within a three-dimensional space, bioprinting enables the creation of intricate tissue structures that closely resemble the architecture and functionality of natural tissues and organs. In recent years, researchers have made significant advancements in bioprinting techniques, resulting in the development of functional tissue constructs such as skin, cartilage, and even small-scale organs1. A recent focus in soft materials science has been on the production of three-dimensional structures using biocompatible amphiphilic hydrogels through additive 3D printing. This approach has promising applications in tissue engineering. One of the emerging challenges in 3D printing technology is the fabrication of tridimensional structures using small self-assembling biobased molecular gelator hydrogels, such as biosurfactants (monounsaturated glucolipids) derived from plants or microorganisms2,3. In context, a fragile and thixotropic biocompatible low molecular weight gel is printed in 3D structures. The rheology characteristics of hydrogels, such as shear thinning behavior, viscoelasticity, and thixotropy, were investigated to optimize the printing process and achieve the desired product quality and accuracy. Different processes for obtaining hydrogels have been explored to assess the stability and homogeneity of materials, including the impact of aging time on the printability of various hydrogel types. More broadly, these results open the way toward exploiting controlled flow-induced instabilities and out-of-equilibrium self-organization during extrusion as a design principle to generate hierarchical, biomimetic architectures in bioprinted living matter.
1. Murphy SV, Atala A. Nat Biotechnol. 2014 ;32(8):773-785
2. N. Baccile, L. Van Renterghem, P. Le Griel, G. Ducouret, et al., Soft Matter, 2018, 14, 7859–7872
3. Fragal, E. H. ; Poirier, A. ; Bleses, D. ; Faria Guimarães Silva, Y. ; Baccile, N. ; Rharbi, Y. Soft Matter 2025, 21, 4476-4487.
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