Printing Muscle and Bone.
Ink-jet printers allow tissue engineers to control cell development and
could one day be used to construct complex cellular structures.
By Jennifer Chu.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of
Pittsburgh have successfully directed adult stem cells from mice to
develop into bone and muscle cells with the aid of a custom-designed
ink-jet printer. They say it's a first step toward better understanding
tissue regeneration, which may one day lead to therapies for repairing
damaged tissues, as occurs in osteoarthritis.
For years, tissue engineers have used souped-up printers, and in some
cases off-the-shelf models, to print "bio-inks." These inks consist of
anything from proteins to individual cells printed in microscopic
patterns. By printing layer upon layer of cell patterns, scientists may
one day be able to "print" whole tissues or organs for replacement
therapies.
Now Phil Campbell and his team at Carnegie Mellon have added a new
branch to the budding field of bioprinting. Certain growth factors spur
stem cells to morph into specific kinds of cells, such as bone or
muscle. Campbell and his colleagues have successfully printed
growth-factor solutions on the same slide, or "paper," forming a
scaffold onto which stem cells can interact and differentiate into bone
or muscle cells side by side.
The team loaded its ink-jet printer with a dilute solution containing
the growth factor BMP-2, known for turning stem cells into bone cells.
Meanwhile, the researchers prepared the paper they would print on: a
microscope slide coated with a fibrin matrix--a material found in the
body that naturally binds growth factors. The team then printed growth
factors one drop at a time, in four separate square patterns of 750
microns. Each square consisted of varying shades, or concentrations, of
growth factor, depending on the number of times the researchers printed
on top of the same pattern.
more...
http://www.technologyreview.com/BioTech/17913/
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