Advancing Bioprinting
How did a team of scientists from the University of Montréal, Concordia University and the Federal University of Santa Catarina successfully 3D printed living mouse brain cells? Simple, by using a newly developed bioprinting technology. It’s called LIST which stands for Laser-Induced Side Transfer.
Some people jump to conclusions and expect that with 3D printing capabilities and its close to sci-fi reputation for bioprinting, human organs for transplants can now be realized. Truth to tell, when it comes to brain organs and cell replacements, the possibility is still quite distant. However, the development for disease modeling, drug testing, and implant manufacturing is very promising.
Using LIST technology, sensory neurons can be 3D printed, with 86% of them still alive even two days after printing. It showed that the technique can maintain high printing resolution and reproducibility, and be applicable with different bioink viscosities. Hence, it proved that it can overcome some limitations associated with other bioprinting techniques, such as donor preparations, ink viscosity, and cell viability.
The scientists wanted to prove that it’s possible to bioprinting adult sensory neurons via LIST, which uses low energy nanosecond laser pulses. They used DRG neurons from the peripheral nervous system of mice to prepare the bioink. After being 3D bioprinted, the samples were briefly incubated before being washed and re-incubated for 48 hours.
They believe the technique could form an important contribution to the field of bioprinting, particularly within drug discovery. It can also decrease animal testing; fewer animals will have to be euthanized for the benefit of human health because LIST uses human tissue, and not those of animals. With encouraging results, the researchers are moving onwards in the efforts to aid drug discovery for nerve recovery.
