Biomaterials for manufacturing scaffolds: a compromise between resolution, size and biocompatibility

Materials play a key role in tissue engineering for the construction of 3-dimensional scaffolds that support the formation of a new extracellular matrix. They should be biocompatible, and for the fabrication of functional scaffolds, they should be mechanically robust, provide high resolution and printability factors to use in one-photon polymerization microstereolithography (OPP μ-SLA) technologies. Furthermore, applications where those materials are used, such as tissue regeneration or tissue substitutes, require fabrication approaches that allow the scalability of 3D scaffold for their clinical use. Therefore, both materials and technology need to be optimized and improved. We tackle two research tracks, one to provide high resolution and biocompatible materials that can be used in OPP- μ-SLA, and a second one to obtain a new μ- SLA configuration that can boost large-size scaffold fabrication for tissue engineering applications. In this work, we report our progress towards the formulation of a hydrogel based on the prototype resin X HYDRORES INX X100 from XPECT INX and we describe the configuration based on the beam shaping of a laser source to print centimeter scale scaffolds while conserving micro-scale features. We printed scaffolds with a commercial ABS resin and the bio-inert hydrogel from XPECT INX that allow us to compare resolution, printability, and mechanical stability. Our results evidence structures with voxel widths up to 20 μm and lengths up to 23 mm by using uniform light sheets illumination patterns. This work set new alternatives for the material and the fabrication aspects of additive manufacturing for 3D biofabrication.