Table 2.
Summary of freeform 3D printing strategies for vascular applications.
| 3D printing approach | Printing materials | Supporting materials | Vascular construct size | Significance | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ODP | F127 | F127-DA | Diameter: 18–170 μm (30 μm glass capillary) ~600 μm (200 μm SUS nozzle) |
3D biomimetic micro-vascular networks embedded within a hydrogel matrix via omnidirectional printing | Wu et al. 34 |
| Extrusion 3D printing | F127 | GelMA microparticle | Diameter : 300–600 μm (410 μm nozzle) | Complex processes like tumor intravasation and extravasation, and accompanying roles of stroma-cancer cell interaction, can be readily modeled. | Molley et al. 72 |
| Embedding printing | Alginate solution | Gellan and gelatin based microgel | Diameter : 750–1000 μm (840 μm nozzle) | Design and test a cross-linkable microgel composite matrix bath for embedded bioprinting of perfusable tissue constructs as well as sculpting of solid objects | Compaan et al. 73 |
| FRESH | Xanthan-gum | Gelatin granules, alginate granules | Diameter : 600 μm (210 μm nozzle) | Fabrication of perfusable freeform microfluidics, created from hydrogels based on biopolymers | Štumberger and Vihar 74 |
| 3D injection | Photocrosslinkable PVA, Sylgard 184 | Carbopol ETD 2020 granules, Dow Corning 9041 silicone elastomer granules | Diameter : 100 μm or larger wall thickness: 100 μm or larger (50 μm glass microcapillary) | Remarkable properties of the soft granular gel medium provide stability and versatility within an easy framework | Bhattacharjee et al. 75 |
| Syringe-based coaxial extrusion | Photocrosslinkable bioelastomer prepolymers based on ITA | Carbomer 940 hydrogel | Diameter : 500 ± 67 μm Wall thickness : 100−200 μm (1260 μm outer diameter/600 μm inner diameter) |
Synthesized new bioelastomers based on ITA and printed perfusable tubular structure exhibited structural integrity | Savoji et al. 76 |
| Extrusion-based printing | dECM + iPSC-derived CMs, gelatin + ECs | Alginate solution + xanthan gum | Diameter : ~200 μm (140 μm needle) | The use of fully personalized, nonsupplemented materials as
bioinks for 3D printing. Demonstrating the potential of the approach for organ replacement after failure, or for drug screening in an appropriate anatomical structure |
Noor et al. 77 |
| Extrusion-based printing | GelMA, MeTro + CMs/CFs/HUVECs | Carbopol gel | Diameter : 3 mm Wall thickness : 350 μm (340 μm nozzle) |
Combination of GelMA and MeTro resulted in high-resolution printing with great cell viability. | Lee et al. 78 |
| Extrusion-based printing | Alginate + NIH-3T3 cells | F127 + Laponite-RDS | Diameter : 5 mm Wall thickness : 950 μm (260 μm nozzle) |
Supporting gel based on PF-RDS allowed precise printing, helped recovery of the structures, and provided cell friendly environment. | Afghah et al. 79 |
| Extrusion-based printing | Alginate + L929 cells | XG-GMA + L929 cells | Diameter : 340 μm (260 μm needle) | New supporting material for up-scaling embedded 3D bio-printing technology that was implemented with xanthan gum, a biocompatible, wide accessible, and low cost natural polysaccharide | Patrício et al. 27 |
| Scaffold-free rapid prototyping | Multicellular spheroids | Agarose rods | Diameter : 0.9–2.5 mm (300 or 500 μm micropipettes) | Patterning of distinct cell types to construct structures that are both compositionally and architecturally intricate | Norotte et al. 80 |
| Extrusion-based printing | Multicellular organoids (iPSCs) | Gelatin-fibrinogen ECM | Diameter : 132 μm and 182 μm (50 and 100 μm metal nozzle) | Fragile cells such as primary stem cells can be organized into a complex geometry directly within the most potent 3D culture matrices | Skylar-Scott et al. 81 |
| SWIFT | Gelatin | OBBs containing iPSCs-derived | Diameter : 400 μm (250 μm metal nozzle) | Demonstrated SWIFT method that uses iPSC-derived OBB tissue matrices that exhibit the requisite cell density, microarchitecture, and function approaching that of native tissues | Skylar-Scott et al. 82 |
| Multiphoton micromachining | — | Silk hydrogel + hMSCs | Diameter : >5 μm | Rapid formation of high-resolution structures over multiple length scales in three dimensions and could be carried out in cell-laden hydrogels | Applegate et al. 83 |
| Laser ablation | — | PEG hydrogel, Collagen I hydrogel + mouse myoblast cell line (C2C12), HUVECs, MSCs | Diameter : > 2 μm | No complex steps are involved in the fabrication of microfluidic networks with guaranteed sterility of the cell cultures. | Brandenberg and Lutolf 84 |
| Multiphoton photodegradation | — | PEG-tetraBCN with the diazide N3-oNB-RGPQGIWGQGRGDSGK(N3)-NH2 peptide + human bone marrow-derived hS5 stromal cells, HUVECs | Diameter : >10 μm | Multiphoton-assisted photodegradation enables fabrication and subsequent modification of complex endothelialized 3D micro-vascular networks with customizable intraluminal architectures in the presence of encapsulated cells. | Arakawa et al. 85 |
| μCOB | GM-HA, GelMA + HUVECs, 10T1/2 cells, HepG2 cells | GelMA | Diameter : 50–250 μm | Superior ability of computer-aided photopolymerization-based 3D
bioprinting system Anastomosis between the grafted prevascularized tissues and the host vasculature was observed indicating the formation of functional vasculature in engineered tissues |
Zhu et al. 86 |
| SLATE | Collagen solution + HUVECs, primary hepatocytes | PEGDA, GelMA | Diameter : >50 μm | Soft granular gel medium provide stability and versatility within an easy framework | Grigoryan et al. 87 |
| Projection-based multi-material stereolithographic bioprinting | HAMA | GelMA | Diameter : 360 – 720 μm Height : 360 μm |
Screening multiple photoink formulations based on hyaluronic acid for sacrificial material system for stereolithographic bioprinting and subsequent digestion | Thomas et al. 88 |