Design of photocurable, biodegradable scaffolds for liver lobule regeneration via digital light processing-additive manufacturing

The regeneration of damaged or loss of tissue is considered one critical step toward realizing full organ regeneration in modern medicine. Although surgical techniques continue to advance, the treatment of missing tissues in irregular wounds remains particularly difficult. With the increasing interests in the application of additive manufacturing toward tissue engineering, the fabrication of customized scaffolds for the regeneration of missing tissue via 3D-printing has become especially promising. Amongst the work on the regeneration of many important organs, liver regeneration is of particular high interest as it is the highest cause of death for many countries around the world, resulting in increasing need for liver transplant. The generation of hexagonal scaffolds for the regeneration of liver lobule is of high demand, but the three-dimensional structure has been proven difficult via traditional fabrication methods. In this work, various hexagonal scaffolds are developed for liver lobule regeneration via 3D printing using a novel biodegradable polymeric material, poly(glycerol sebacate) acrylate (PGSA). Through fine-tuning of printing parameters, a series of hexagonal scaffolds were designed and printed in mimicry of liver lobule units. The scaffolds were printed with pore sizes ranging between 100 and 900 μm in diameter together with varying surface area and three-dimensional structure to enhance cell seeding density and culture medium diffusivity. Through analyses of cell metabolic activities, the efficacy of the designs was proven through cell cultures to observe potential differences in cell proliferation rate. The combination of the high flexibility in 3D printing with the biodegradable, photocurable PGSA has made the regeneration of 3D liver lobule very promising.