Dr. Rainer Detsch (Erlangen, DE), Emine Karakaya (Erlangen, DE), Jonas Hazur (Erlangen, DE), Jonas Röder (Erlangen, DE), Hsuan-Heng Lu (Erlangen, DE), Jörg Teßmar (Würzburg, DE), Prof. Dr. Aldo R. Boccaccini (Erlangen, DE)
Abstract text (incl. figure legends and references)
Introduction:
Sodium alginates and their modifications are favorable bioinks for biofabrication strategies due to their biocompatibility and mild gelation. Various printing technologies, like extrusion process and drop-on-demand, have been used to produce complex alginate-based hydrogel structures [1].
Objectives:
Establishment of an alginate library for tailored biofabrication applications based on physicochemical analyses, printing accuracy tests and in vitro studies.
Materials & methods:
Pharmaceutical-grade alginates of different algae sources and their modifications (oxidized to alginate dialdehyde) were used to develop a set of materials consisting of alginate, gelatine and PEGs with a subsequent biomolecular functionalization. These bioinks were investigated regarding their cross-linking degree and physicochemical properties as well as printability and cell behavior.
Results:
It could be shown that various parameters such as type and source can influence the block structure of alginate which crucially determines the material properties: Alginate-based bioinks with longer G-blocks are characterized by a stronger ionic cross-linking, better printing accuracy and they provide enough stability for cell growth, whereas longer M-blocks degrade faster. However, the M/G ratio had no negative influence on the survival of reporter cells but it affects cell spreading.
Conclusion:
Molecular weight, M/G ratio, shear thinning properties and printing accuracy, degradation as well as Young"s modulus and biological interaction are required for the use of alginate-based bioinks as a platform technology. We have now been able to bring these together into an "alginate library" through intensive research [2].
Acknowledgments:
This project is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) project number 326998133-TRR-225 (subproject B06, A01, B03 and A02).
References:
[1] J. Hazur, et al., Biofabrication (2020)
[2] E. Karakaya, et. al., Biomacromolecules (2023)