Dual Extruder 3D-Bioprinter for Computer Designed Cardiac Structures

CLIMENT ANDREU; A.S DE LA NAVA; NIEVA EDUARDO GABRIEL; A.LIBEROS

Rennes

Congreso; Computing in cardiologu; 2017

A precise location of cells is of high interest for thecharacterization of cell interaction in in-vitro studies.Bioprinters can be a useful and automatized tool toproduce these biological structures with precision.The objective of this study is to develop and validate alow-cost novel dual-extruder 3D bioprinter with enoughresolution to study the electrophysiological interactionbetween different cell types. An open source classical 3Dprinter was adapted to incorporate two syringe extruders,allowing controlled delivery of hydrogel-cell ink. Fourdifferent parameters were studied to adjust precision: theneedle lumen (G), the density of the hydrogel (%), thelinear velocity of the extruder in the platform (mm/s) andthe extrusion velocity (steps of the NEMA 17 extrudermotor). Cell viability was tested with alamarBlue test andspatial distribution of cells was studied with fluorescencemicroscopy.As a result of this study, thin lines of 1.18 mm in widthwith 85% viability after 24h of printing process wereobtained