Figure 6.

Proposed application concept of a perivascular implant based on a hybrid scaffold building-blocks.

(a) CAD-drawing of polycaprolactone shell component: Proposed 3D-printed outer layer. (b) CAD-drawing of cell-encapsulating hydrogel structure: Proposed bioprinted inner layer. (c) CAD-drawing of proposed merged hybrid perivascular device for future application in human. In this study, building-blocks for a future insulin-producing perivascular implant were investigated in vitro and in ovo. In further studies in vivo, we propose merging the building-blocks to form a hybrid implant as depicted here. Such an implant could be able to encase neuro-vascular structures. The modular design, as proposed in the CAD-drawing could easily be implanted to encase bodily structures and would allow further hybrid devices to be attached along the bodily lead structure and thus being a building-block for a patient-specific implant itself. For further information on the proposed concept see Supplementary Movie 4.