Design and development of crosslinker module for three-dimensional bioprinting of hydrogels

Mohd Ali, Muammar Ghaddafi (2024) Design and development of crosslinker module for three-dimensional bioprinting of hydrogels. Project Report. Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Melaka, Malaysia. (Submitted)

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Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting has emerged as a promising technology for the fabrication of complex tissue constructs in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The use of hydrogels as bioinks for 3D bioprinting of scaffold has gained significant attention due to their ability to provide a conducive microenvironment for cell growth and tissue formation. The structural rigidity of the hydrogel scaffold is highly dependent on the crosslinking process which requires the gelatine-based solution to be in contact with a calcium-based solution. However, the current approach of using a calcium-based support bath was found to be ineffective in terms of its bath preparation and polymerization during printing. Therefore, this project aims to design and develop a novel crosslinker module for the direct deposition of calcium chloride onto the printed bioink layer to enable the precise and controlled crosslinking of hydrogels during the bioprinting process. The conceptual design of the crosslinker module was fabricated by applying the concept of double syringe extrusion method. Afterwards, the optimization of the crosslinking parameters was performed by considering 7 parameter including nozzle shape, nozzle diameter, layer height, print speed, feed rate, temperature and calcium chloride concentration, it was found that conical shape, 14-gauge nozzle diameter, 0.8 mm layer height, 3 mm/s print speed, 300 mm/s feed rate, 15C temperature and 40% CaCl concentration was the optimized parameter. The effectiveness of the crosslinker module evaluated by assessing their microstructural of the printed hydrogel using Optical Microscope Magnification shows that the sample printed using the crosslinker module exhibit porosity which are necessary for cell growth. The findings from this study contributes to the advancement of bioprinting technology toward revolutionizing the health care industry.

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