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3D bioprinting of urethra with PCL/PLCL blend and dual autologous cells in fibrin hydrogel: An in vitro evaluation of biomimetic mechanical property and cell growth environment
Abstract
Objective Urethral stricture is a common condition seen after urethral injury. The currently available treatments are inadequate and there is a scarcity of substitute materials used for treatment of urethral stricture. The traditional tissue engineering of urethra involves scaffold design, fabrication and processing of multiple cell types.Methods In this study, we have used 3D bioprinting technology to fabricate cell-laden urethra in vitro with different polymer types and structural characteristics. We hypothesized that use of PCL and PLCL polymers with a spiral scaffold design could mimic the structure and mechanical properties of natural urethra of rabbits, and cell-laden fibrin hydrogel could give a better microenvironment for cell growth. With using an integrated bioprinting system, tubular scaffold was formed with the biomaterials; meanwhile, urothelial cells (UCs) and smooth muscle cells (SMCs) were delivered evenly into inner and outer layers of the scaffold separately within the cell-laden hydrogel.Results The PCL/PLCL (50:50) spiral scaffold demonstrated mechanical properties equivalent to the native urethra in rabbit. Evaluation of the cell bioactivity in the bioprinted urethra revealed that UCs and SMCs maintained more than 80% viability even at 7days after printing. Both cell types also showed active proliferation and maintained the specific biomarkers in the cell-laden hydrogel.Conclusion These results provided a foundation for further studies in 3D bioprinting of urethral constructs that mimic the natural urethral tissue in mechanical properties and cell bioactivity, as well a possibility of using the bioprinted construct for in vivo study of urethral implantation in animal model.Significance of statements The 3D bioprinting is a new technique to replace traditional tissue engineering. The present study is the first demonstration that it is feasible to create a urethral construct. Two kinds of biomaterials were used and achieved mechanical properties equivalent to that of native rabbit urethra. Bladder epithelial cells and smooth muscle cells were loaded in hydrogel and maintained sufficient viability and proliferation in the hydrogel. The highly porous scaffold could mimic a natural urethral base-membrane, and facilitate contacts between the printed epithelial cells and smooth muscle cells on both sides of the scaffold. These results provided a strong foundation for future studies on 3D bioprinted urethra.
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“it was found that the spiral-structured urethral scaffold made from PCL/PLCL (50:50) had mechanical properties closest to those of the native urethra. The cell experiment results showed that the cells on the surface of the scaffold could maintain good biological activity”
From Application of PLCL as a biodegradable polymer in biomedical engineering (2026) · cites this paper as [211]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Zhang, K., Fu, Q., Yoo, J., Chen, X., Chandra, P., Mo, X., Song, L., Atala, A., & Zhao, W.
- Affiliations
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN)
- Wake Forest University (US)
- Wake Forest University Health Sciences (US)
- Donghua University (CN)
- Nantong University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Atala, Anthony
- Zhao, Weixin
- ORCID
- Venue
- Acta Biomaterialia
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-03
- Volume
- 50
- Pages
- 154-164
- ISSN
- 1742-7061 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2559862105
- Cited by
- 268
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 30 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 44 · 2020: 41 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 25 · 2017: 8
- FWCI
- 9.95
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Acta Biomaterialia (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Natural Science Fund of China (81270780, 81470917)
- Science and technology commission of Shanghai (14JC1492100)
- Shanghai Jiaotong University Biomedical Engineering Cross Research Foundation (YG2014ZD07)
- Shanghai Pujiang Plan (14PJD026)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › 3D Printing in Biomedical Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Biomaterials › Hydrogels: synthesis, properties, applications
- Keywords
- urethra, urethral stricture, fibrin gel, urothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, urethral tissue engineering, cell viability and proliferation, porous scaffolds, cell-laden hydrogels
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Cell Line, Male, Materials Testing, Polyesters, Rabbits, Urethra, Urothelium, Hydrogels, Tissue Engineering, Myocytes, Smooth Muscle, Biomimetic Materials, Tissue Scaffolds, Printing, Three-Dimensional
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