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Hybrid 3-D printer could help injured patients regain lost cartilage
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Researchers using a hybrid 3-D printer that can print both organic and synthetic materials have created artificial cartilage that is stronger than materials created by an inkjet printer alone.
“The hybrid printer used in this study illustrates that a combination of materials and fabrication methods generates durable implantable constructs. The constructs were inserted into mice for 2, 4 and 8 weeks to see how they performed in a real life system,” Anthony Atala, MD, director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, told Orthopedics Today. “After 8 weeks of implantation, the constructs appeared to have developed the structures and properties that are typical of elastic cartilage, demonstrating their potential for insertion into a patient.”
Anthony Atala
Atala said merging the organic and synthetic printing systems was difficult, but the end result was a system with a durable construct that promoted cell growth. The printer combines an inkjet printer with an “electrospinning machine” that allowed the researchers to create the cartilage, according to the abstract.
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The bioprinting method shows promise in engineering tissue and organ replacements and would increase the scale by which these constructs could be created, Atala said.
“Our hope is that cartilage constructs could one day be clinically applied by using an MRI scan of a body part, such as the knee, as a blueprint for creating a matching construct,” he said. “A careful selection of scaffold material for each patient’s construct would allow the implant to withstand mechanical forces while encouraging new cartilage to organize and fill the defect.”
Reference:
Xu T. Biofabrication. 2012;doi:10.1088/1758-5082/5/1/015001.
Disclosure: Atala has no relevant financial disclosures.
