3D bioprinting – Flow cytometry as analytical strategy for 3D cell structures
journal contribution
posted on 2019-04-08, 14:08authored bySarah Gretzinger, Nicole Beckert, Andy GleadallAndy Gleadall, Cornelia Lee-Thedieck, Jürgen Hubbuch
The importance of 3D printing technologies increased significantly over the recent years. They are considered to have a huge impact in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, since 3D bioprinting enables the production of cell-laden 3D scaffolds. Transition from academic research to pharmaceutical industry or clinical applications, however, is highly dependent on developing a robust and well-known process, while maintaining critical cell characteristics. Hence, a directed and systematic approach to 3D bioprinting process development is required, which also allows for the monitoring of these cell characteristics. This work presents the development of a flow cytometry-based analytical strategy as a tool for 3D bioprinting research. The development was based on a model process using a commercially available alginate-based bioink, the β-cell line INS-1E, and direct dispensing as 3D bioprinting method. We demonstrated that this set-up enabled viability and proliferation analysis. Additionally, use of an automated sampler facilitated high-throughput screenings. Finally, we showed that each process step, e.g. suspension of cells in bioink or 3D printing, cross-linking of the alginate scaffold after printing, has a crucial impact on INS-1E viability. This reflects the importance of process optimization in 3D bioprinting and the usefulness of the flow cytometry-based analytical strategy described here. The presented strategy has a great potential as a cell characterisation tool for 3D bioprinting and may contribute to a more directed process development.
Funding
This work was supported by the Helmholtz Program “BioInterfaces in Technology and Medicine (BIFTM).”
History
School
Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering
Published in
Bioprinting
Volume
11
Pages
e00023 - e00023
Citation
GRETZINGER, S. ... et al, 2018. 3D bioprinting – Flow cytometry as analytical strategy for 3D cell structures. Bioprinting, 11, e00023.
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/