Fig 12. Composition of the polyanionic, printable scaffold material.

The basic scaffold of the bioprinted discs or biofabricated vessels (bTEBV) are fabricated by N,O-CMC, alginate, polyP and silica. Due to ionic linkages the cation Ca²⁺ crosslinks those polymers and forms a more solid implant material. The durable hydrogel formed is proposed to be metabolically dissolved, via glycosidases and alkaline phosphatases (as well as carbonic anhydrases) to the respective monomers. The exchange of Ca²⁺ by Na⁺ is assumed to be mediated by both inorganic and organic chelators.