Scientists have developed a silk-based, 3-D printer ink for use in biomedical implants or tissue engineering. Credit: American Chemical Society
Silk bio-ink is useful for more complex tissues with versatile functions eg tissues that can be loaded with pharmaceuticals. In the past finding an ideal bio-ink has stalled more complicated tissue engineering progress till now. Most inks currently being developed for 3D printing are made of thermoplastics, silicones, collagen and gelatin or alginate. But there are limits to how these inks can be used. For example, the temperatures, pH changes and crosslinking methods that may be required to toughen some of these materials can damage cells or other biological components that researchers want to add to the inks.
Silk-based bioinks were developed for 2D and 3D printing. By incorporating nontoxic polyols into silk solutions, two-part formulations with self-curing features at room temperature were generated. By varying the formulations the crystallinity of the silk polymer matrix could be controlled to support printing in 2D and 3D formats interfaced with CAD geometry and with good feature resolution. The self-curing phenomenon was tuned and exploited in order to demonstrate the formation of both structural and support materials.
Additives, such as cytokines and antibiotics, are useful for directing stem cell functions and controlling infections, respectively. To address these bio-ink limitations, David L. Kaplan and colleagues turned to silk protein and developed a way to avoid harsh processing conditions.
The researchers combined silk proteins, which are biocompatible, and glycerol, a non-toxic sugar alcohol commonly found in food and pharmaceutical products. The resulting ink was clear, flexible, stable in water, and didn’t require any processing methods, such as high temperatures, that would limit its versatility. The researchers say the novel material could potentially be used in biomedical implants and tissue engineering. http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/presspacs/2015/acs-presspac-september-2-2015/silk-bio-ink-could-help-advance-tissue-engineering-with-3-D-printers.html
Recent Comments