Figure 7.

Microfluidic bioprinting of organoids. (i) A microfluidic device for generation of sandwich-structured alginate microfiber with hepatocytes and 3T3 cells layers. (ii) Formation process of scaffold-free hepatocyte-3T3 complex microorganoid. (iii) Hepatocytes and 3T3 cells-encapsulated hydrogel microfibers formation by microfluidic device. (iv) Micrographs of hepatocytes in microfibers with and without presence of 3T3 cells. (v) Double-immunofluorescent staining of hepatocytes-encapsulated microfibers with and without 3T3 using CK18 (green) and vimentin (red) antibodies. (green: hepatocytes; red: 3T3). (vi) Production of hepatic microorganoids in alginate microfibers: without 3T3 after (a) 7 and (e) 30 days, and with 3T3 after (b) 7 and (f) 30 days. Enzymatic digest of the alginate microfibers and hepatic microorganoids recovery for the microfibers: without 3T3 after (c) 7 and (g) 30 days, and with 3T3 after (d) 7 and (h) 30 days. Scale bars: (iii) 200 μm, (iv) 100 μm, (v) 50 μm, (vi) 200 μm. Reproduced with permission.^[188] Copyright 2012, Elsevier.