Figure 2. Laser Direct-Write Printing on Cultured Rat Mesentery Tissue.

Rat mesenteric tissue windows, defined as the thin, translucent connective tissue section between artery/vein pairs feeding the small intestine, are harvested from adult rats and spread onto inverted commercially available trans-well inserts. Prior to insertion of the insert plus tissue into a well of a 6 well culture plate, cells embedded in a gelatin coated UV-transparent quartz disc, termed “ribbon,” can be printed directly onto the tissue (Phamduy et al., 2015). A single pulse of 193 nm Arf excimer laser causes the formation of a local vapor pocket that ejected a desired amount of cells. Use of an in situ camera enables real time targeting of cells. We have demonstrated that bioprinted tissues can be cultured using normal culture conditions for at least up to 5 days.