Anisotropic hydrogel scaffold by flow-induced stereolithography 3D printing technique.

Essential organs, such as the heart and liver, contain a unique porous network that allows oxygen and nutrients to be exchanged, with distinct random to ordered regions displaying varying degrees of strength. A novel technique, referred to here as flow-induced lithography, was developed. This technique generates tunable anisotropic three-dimensional (3D) structures. The ink for this bioprinting technique was made of titanium dioxide nanorods (Ti) and kaolinite nanoclay (KLT) dispersed in a GelMA/PEGDA polymeric suspension. By controlling the flow rate, aligned particle microstructures were achieved in the suspensions. The application of UV light to trigger the polymerization of the photoactive prepolymer freezes the oriented particles in the polymer network. Because the viability test was successful in shearing suspensions containing cells, the flow-induced lithography technique can be used with both acellular scaffolds and cell-laden structures. Fabricated hydrogels show outstanding mechanical properties resembling human tissues, as well as significant cell viability (> 95 %) over one week. As a result of this technique and the introduction of bio-ink, a novel approach has been pioneered for developing anisotropic tissue implants utilizing low-viscosity biomaterials.

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Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of competing interest The authors of this article declare no conflicts of interest or financial affiliations that could be perceived as influencing the research presented herein. We affirm that this research was conducted with the utmost integrity and objectivity. No external funding, support, or associations that could present a conflict of interest with the reported findings have been involved in this study. The research and its outcomes are solely the result of the authors' independent work and academic pursuit of advancing the field of biomaterials.