Scientists at the IrishRCSI医学与健康科学大学have developed a novel bio-ink that can be 3D printed into tissues capable of fast-forwarding the human wound-healing process.
By integrating the platelet-rich plasma (PRP) that natural blood uses to mend tissues into a hydrogel, the team has been able to create unique, regenerative scaffolds, that they say are not only capable of rapidly healing wounds without leaving behind scarred tissue, but could have wider surgical applications as well.
“Existing literature suggests that while the PRP already present in our blood helps to heal wounds, scarring can still occur,” said RCSI Professor Fergal O’Brien. “By 3D printing PRP into a biomaterial scaffold, we can increase the formation of blood vessels while also avoiding the formation of scars, leading to more successful wound healing.”
“This technology can potentially be used to regenerate different tissues, therefore dramatically influencing the ever-growing regenerative medicine, 3D printing and personalised medicine markets.”
Advancing the science of healing
作为对日常环境威胁的第一道防线，我们的皮肤实际上是人体中最大，最重要，最复杂的器官之一。当这些外层因受伤而破坏时，如果留给自己的设备，我们的组织通常能够独立愈合，但是一些较大的伤口会导致疤痕或细胞不完全再生，导致患者患有慢性疾病。
At present, the latter tends to be treated with wound cleaning, dressing and antibiotics, or in more extreme cases, the use of skin grafts to replace damaged tissues altogether. However, as is the way with other types of organ donation, natively-compatible healthy skin can be very difficult to find, thus grafts are rarely viable, particularly when treating large injuries.
To make such implants more readily available, scientists continue to experiment with the idea of creating wound-healing tissue-engineered scaffolds. Creating these tissues can be very expensive though, due to the recombinant growth factors required to vascularize them sufficiently for end-use, hence they’ve achieved limited success in practise.
因此，作为组织移植物通常仅部分有效的蛋白质，RCSI团队的一种替代方案，提出了使用自然出现的PRP。将患者的血小板直接应用于自己的皮肤上会承受疤痕的风险，因此，为了解决这个问题，科学家通过将其集成到3D可打印的水凝胶支架中找到了一种新的植入PRP的方法。
Printing platelet-loaded scaffolds
To make their bioengineered tissues possible, the researchers started by isolating the PRP in samples acquired from a local blood bank, before mixing it with a photoinitiator and gelatin into a novel bio-ink. Once ready, the team used anAllevi II将材料挤入脚手架的系统，该脚手架没有遇到任何大小或孔问题，并且比纯水凝胶样品更慢。
科学家制作了第一批原型后，继续评估14天内的生长因子释放速度，这对于最终用途应用至关重要。在这些试验中，发现脚手架可以释放其含量的10％作为纯PRP，其血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）分散最快，这意味着它们可能比当前的植入物更快地化血管。
As a final test, the team then tested their wound-healing tissues by transplanting them onto chick embryos, which were incubated and cracked open for analysis. Compared to grafted control samples composed only of hydrogel, the researchers’ PRP scaffolds served to increase vascularization by a further 40%, and trigger the creation of both small blood vessels and capillaries.
As a result, although the scientists concede that their graft requires further testing to better understand host immune responses to implantation, they say their study represents a “paradigm-shifting approach for the treatment of complex wounds,” which could eventually yield a single-stage laceration-healing procedure.
“Our technology can potentially be applied to other tissue engineering applications where enhanced vascularization and the avoidance of fibrosis is desired,” concluded the team. “In addition, the use of autologous growth factors released from PRP within a 3D printed implant has great potential for clinical translation, offering several advantages over the use of recombinant growth factors.”
Bioprinting’s skin implant potential
他们可能还没有进入外科剧院，但是在过去的一年中，3D生物打印的组织已经飞跃。就在上个月，NOVOPLASM财团宣布已开发新颖的治疗感染烧伤的方式and improving the wound healing of skin grafts, in which it combined bioprinting and cold plasma technology.
今年早些时候，科学家在宾夕法尼亚州立大学also came up with a means ofsimultaneously repairing skin and bone疾病，其中两个独特的生物墨水可以直接生物打入伤口部位。为了利用他们的方法，该团队已经能够在单个测试过程中快速修复大鼠模型的头骨和皮肤的孔。
同样，在护肤市场上，韩国制药公司之类的公司HK inno.N已经开发了自己的3D印刷皮肤型号，以便测试自身免疫和皮肤疾病药物。与生物打印专家合作T&R Biofab, the company has unveiled plans to use its artificial tissues to conduct in-depth research into the efficacy of skin disease medications, before they hit the market.
研究人员的发现在其论文中详细介绍了“3 d印制支架与Platelet-Ri合并ch Plasma Show Enhanced Angiogenic Potential while not Inducing Fibrosis。” The research was co-authored by Rita I. R. Ibanez, Ronaldo J. F. C. do Amaral, Christopher R. Simpson, Sarah M. Casey, Rui L. Reis, Alexandra P. Marques, Ciara M. Murphy and Fergal J. O’Brien.
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特色图像显示了该团队植入的生物打印组织脚手架的特写，其中缺乏疤痕以红色突出显示。图像通过高级功能材料杂志。
