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Personalized Single‐Cell Encapsulation Using E‐Jet 3D Printing with AC‐Pulsed Modulation
Author(s) -
Wang Jian,
Huang Ruiying,
Chen Haoxiang,
Qiao Xiaoyin,
Shi Xuelei,
Wang Xiaocheng,
Cheng Yanxiang,
Tan Weihong,
Tan Zhikai
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
macromolecular materials and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.913
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1439-2054
pISSN - 1438-7492
DOI - 10.1002/mame.201800776
Subject(s) - materials science , microcarrier , cell encapsulation , nozzle , nanotechnology , biomedical engineering , microsphere , microfluidics , spheroid , 3d printing , drug delivery , cell culture , self healing hydrogels , cell , mechanical engineering , composite material , chemical engineering , chemistry , medicine , biochemistry , genetics , biology , polymer chemistry , engineering
With the growing therapeutic importance of cell microcarriers, there has been a rise in the need to develop technologies that facilitate efficient microencapsulation of cells, currently limited by a lack of straightforward and low‐cost strategies for single‐cell isolation and printing. Thus, the aim of this study is to develop a gentle and cell‐compatible electro‐hydrodynamic jet 3D printing technique to facilitate the efficient microencapsulation of cells in hydrogel microspheres, and investigate the effects of parameters (flow rate, voltage frequency, nozzle diameter, working distance, and substrate velocity) on the printing process. Stable microspheres are obtained by regulating these parameters to balance various forces, with control of their diameters in the range of 100–600 µm. The study demonstrates that under optimized conditions, the technique is able to successfully encapsulate cells within hydrogel microspheres with high viability over a wide range of diameters. This 3D printing technique expands the potential utility of microspheres into additional biological applications, such as cancer biology and drug screening. It can also be used as an effective platform for the production of tumor spheroids, generating multicellular spheroid models in vitro or for injectable cell delivery.