{"id":10290,"date":"2018-11-15T01:00:55","date_gmt":"2018-11-15T01:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/?p=10290"},"modified":"2019-09-03T09:14:22","modified_gmt":"2019-09-03T09:14:22","slug":"engineers-bio-print-ligaments-and-tendons-151120184","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/engineers-bio-print-ligaments-and-tendons-151120184\/","title":{"rendered":"A team of engineers bio-printing ligaments and tendons"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the University of Utah, a team of bio-medicine engineers has developed a method for 3D bio-printing human tissue. In particular 3D bio-printing ligaments and tendons.\u00a0They modified a conventional 3D extrusion printer and used stem cells extracted from adipose tissue.\u00a0A solution that could benefit all those who suffer from rupture of ligaments or fissure of the intervertebral disc.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0bio-printing technology<\/a>\u00a0is developing rapidly and with it an interesting use of the technology in the medical sector is emerging.\u00a0Even if it is still in its infancy, it allows for advances in the creation of customised cell structures. Including such\u00a0as liver tissue\u00a0or even organs.\u00a0We recently met up with the startup\u00a0BIOLIFE4D,<\/a>\u00a0which hopes to bio-print the first functional human hearts and thus solve the problem of the lack of organ donors today.\u00a0In the United States, engineers based in Utah have been studying the design of tendons and ligaments. Focused on facilitating the care of people who have been injured.<\/p>\n

\"bio-printing<\/p>\n

Bio-printing ligaments and tendons<\/h3>\n

Currently, people who have torn a ligament or tendon can have it replaced by removing it from another part of the body or a corpse.\u00a0But most of the time, they are of poor quality;\u00a0this is where bio-printing can make a difference.\u00a0Robby Bowles, professor of biomedical engineering, explains, “This will allow patients to receive replacement tissues without additional surgeries and without having to harvest tissue from other sites, which has its own source of problems,<\/em>“<\/p>

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After two years of research, the engineers have developed their own 3D printing technique using stem cells.\u00a0These would come from the adipose tissue of the patient and would be bio-printed on a hydrogel surface.\u00a0Layer by layer, researchers create a tendon or ligament that would develop in vitro in a culture before being implanted.\u00a0 However, it is worth noting, that this is a very complicated process. Simply because this type of connective tissue consists of different cells in complex patterns.\u00a0For example, the cells that make up the tendon or ligament must then move progressively toward the bone cells so that the tissue can attach to the bone.<\/p>\n

Bowles and his team worked with Carterra, a company that produces microfluidic devices for medicine;\u00a0Together, they developed a special print head for the 3D printer. This specific development is capable of depositing human cells in the most controlled way possible. The cells pass through a microfluidic channel in the printer and land on the surface of a hydrogel.\u00a0To test the concept, the team printed genetically modified cells that become fluorescent in order to visualise how they were printed. You can see the process in the video below:<\/p>\n