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Printability of Methacrylated Gelatin upon Inclusion of a Chloride Salt and Hydroxyapatite Nano‐Particles
Author(s) -
Comeau Patricia,
Willett Thomas
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.201900142
Subject(s) - gelatin , swelling , materials science , biomaterial , viscosity , dynamic mechanical analysis , self healing hydrogels , modulus , chemical engineering , composite material , dynamic modulus , polymer chemistry , nanotechnology , polymer , chemistry , organic chemistry , engineering
3D biomaterial printing requires an ink to have suitable printability characteristics, as well as creating a final construct of controllable swelling and stiffness. To tune such properties, the impact of adding different levels of chloride salts (NaCl and CaCl 2 ) and hydroxyapatite nano‐particles (nHA) to a highly concentrated and photo‐crosslinkable methacrylated gelatin (GelMA) is investigated. By adding up to 100 m m CaCl 2 or 1.11 m NaCl, the GelMA viscosity decreases from that of control GelMA (no salt). Interestingly, a 25G needle and strong photo‐polymerization kinetics are able to overcome the low viscosity of the 50CaG ink during printing. Adding further CaCl 2 increases GelMA viscosity, while decreasing both the swelling and dynamic modulus of the UV‐cured construct observed in water. As all UV‐cured constructs have a dynamic modulus greater than 1 MPa, this novel system is able to match the dynamic modulus of articular cartilage—a feat not previously reported for a GelMA‐based system. Lastly, nHA inclusion improves ink printability, as well as decreases swelling and increases dynamic modulus of the final construct. Overall, this study leads to the successful development of a new advanced functional ink which will be beneficial in the 3D printing of biomaterials toward tissue engineering applications.