3D printing of functional biomaterials for tissue engineering
Open accessAbstract
3D printing is emerging as a powerful tool for tissue engineering by enabling 3D cell culture within complex 3D biomimetic architectures. This review discusses the prevailing 3D printing techniques and their most recent applications in building tissue constructs. The work associated with relatively well-known inkjet and extrusion-based bioprinting is presented with the latest advances in the fields. Emphasis is put on introducing two relatively new light-assisted bioprinting techniques, including digital light processing (DLP)-based bioprinting and laser based two photon polymerization (TPP) bioprinting. 3D bioprinting of vasculature network is particularly discussed for its foremost significance in maintaining tissue viability and promoting functional maturation. Limitations to current bioprinting approaches, as well as future directions of bioprinting functional tissues are also discussed.
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3D printing is suitable for the design of customized materials and materials with hierarchical structures, such as customized bone, cartilage, and joint prostheses, multilayer skin wound dressings, and vascular stent coatings.
“This excellent property makes 3D printing technology suitable for the design of customized materials and materials with hierarchical structures, such as customized bone, cartilage, and joint prostheses, multilayer skin wound dressings, and vascular stent coatings [91].”
From Application of PLCL as a biodegradable polymer in biomedical engineering (2026) · cites this paper as [91]
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“This excellent property makes 3D printing technology suitable for the design of customized materials and materials with hierarchical structures, such as customized bone, cartilage, and joint prostheses, multilayer skin wound dressings, and vascular stent coatings [91].”
- Authors
- Zhu, W., Ma, X., Gou, M., Mei, D., Zhang, K., & Chen, S.
- Affiliations
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Sichuan University (CN)
- Zhejiang University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Chen, Shaochen
- Venue
- Current Opinion in Biotechnology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-08
- Volume
- 40
- Pages
- 103-112
- ISSN
- 0958-1669 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2323861871
- Cited by
- 822
- References
- 54
- Citations by year
- 2026: 42 · 2025: 86 · 2024: 95 · 2023: 123 · 2022: 113 · 2021: 93 · 2020: 87 · 2019: 61 · 2018: 66 · 2017: 41 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 4.33
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
- www.elsevier.com/legal/tdmrep-license (tdm)
- www.elsevier.com/open-access/userlicense/1.0/ (am, 243 d)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-017 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-037 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-012 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-029 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-004 (stm-asf)
- Locations
- Current Opinion in Biotechnology (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (RT3-07899)
- National Institutes of Health (W81XWH-14-1-0522)
- National Science Foundation (1547005, 1332681)
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (81422025)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › 3D Printing in Biomedical Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Automotive Engineering › Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing Technologies
- Keywords
- 3D bioprinting, tissue engineering, inkjet bioprinting, extrusion-based bioprinting, digital light processing, two-photon polymerization, 3D cell culture, biomimetic scaffolds
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Biocompatible Materials, Humans, Tissue Engineering, Biomimetics, Tissue Scaffolds, Bioprinting, Printing, Three-Dimensional
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