University of Twente Student Theses
3D Bioprinting in Bioactive Embedding Bath Cartridges for the purpose of Vascularization
Rangel, V.R. (2021) 3D Bioprinting in Bioactive Embedding Bath Cartridges for the purpose of Vascularization.
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| Full Text Status: | Access to this publication is restricted |
| Embargo date: | 26 November 2026 |
| Abstract: | The field of Tissue Engineering is in rapid development and new developments allow the creation of complex and intricate constructs. 3D bioprinting has played a significant role in this development but is facing difficulties in achieving the desired complexity. Therefore, embedding baths consisting of granular gels/microgels are in development which possess unique characteristics to allow printing of complex structures. The embedding baths act as a support for the printed construct to negate the effect of gravity which has proven to be one of the greatest challenges in 3D bioprinting. This thesis focuses on determining the optimal volume fraction by assessing the area of disturbance as a result of shear stress by plotting heatmaps correlating to the disturbance which determines the embedding bath characteristics. Moreover, the bioactivity of the bath is addressed using alginate and agarose-collagen blend microparticles into which a bioink consisting of human umbilical vein endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells was printed. The alginate serves as a bio-inert control whereas the agarosecollagen blend allows cell adhesion and therefore is hypothesized to stimulate cell proliferation and migration allowing the cells to organize into a preliminary vascular construct. A custom platform has been developed which allows bioprinting and facile imaging whilst being able to act as a bioreactor for studying the bioactivity over a period of seven days. The findings indicated an optimal volume fraction of 65% which resulted in the most ideal embedding bath characteristics for 3D bioprinting. Furthermore, the biological experiments showed that the alginate microparticles are bio-inert and therefore act as a proper control. The agarose-collagen embedding bath showed some evidence of cell adhesion to the microparticles, however, the results were indecisive to prove this behaviour and no signficant cell proliferation and migration was found. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | ET: Engineering Technology |
| Subject: | 02 science and culture in general, 33 physics, 35 chemistry, 42 biology, 44 medicine |
| Programme: | Biomedical Engineering MSc (66226) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/93125 |
| Export this item as: | BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager |
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