Wherever the people in the world, they are becoming prey to diseases which lead to organ failure. In this situation they need to transplant the new organ to patients. There are thousands of people listed in the transplantation process, waiting for the organs like kidney, liver and heart. But unfortunately they do not have enough donors to fill that demand. Instead of waiting for this, there is an alternative technique called Bioprinting, a future boon to humanity.
What is this Bioprinting? What is the use of it? What is the process involved in it? There are many questions like this. Let’s take a look at this topic.
Introduction – Bioprinting:
3D – Bioprinting is a new technique to solve the biggest problems in the medical field – organ transplantation. It is the three – dimensional printing of biological tissue and organs through the layering which materializes like natural tissue. It is a process in which the biomaterials like cells and growth factors are combined to form a tissue like structure.These tissues again used as a Bioink to make the organ. Bioink is used in creating the structure of the organ layer by layer. This 3D Printer is used in a variety of fields like designing the model, building parts of different equipment.Similarly, this Printer is used in the science field to make anatomical model and biological model. Recently the technology has taken steps forward in the production of cartilage tissue for use in reconstruction and regeneration. The first actual 3D technology was invented by Charles Hull in the early 1980’s . He patented the stereolithographic manufacturing device which designed the 3D structure. In 2003, Thomas Boland created the world’s first bioprinter to design the live tissue by bioink.
Bioink :
Bioink is a cartilage of bioprinter. It is a material used to form a live tissue by using the bioprinter. It is made up of living cells, living tissue, biomaterials,polymers and water.In most cases, the carrier material is also added to this. The carrier material is biopolymer gel.The cells in the bioink stick with the gel to grow, spread and proliferate. The polymers play a major role in the bioink. Some polymers used in the bioink are alginates, gelatin, decellularized extracellular matrix and pluronic. An important characteristic of biopolymer is its capability to retain water, making it a hydrogel. The bioink is inserted in the piston of a narrowed opening nozzle by which was injected on the scaffold.
Working process of 3D bioprinter :
There are different types of techniques on how the bioprinter works. All the techniques have mostly 3 processes namely pre – bioprinting, bioprinting and post – bioprinting.
Pre – bioprinting :
Pre – bioprinting is the first step to create the digital file of the specific organ layer by layer.Then the printer reads the digital file data and injects it into the bioink.
Bioprinting :
Bioprinting is the second step to print the created layer. The cells and tissues of bioink injected in the cartridge and choose one or more multiple printheads, which is depended upon the structure to build in the scaffold.
Post – bioprinting :
Most of the structures are cross linked to become full stable.some unstable cross-linking is treated by the composition like iconic solution , and UV light,to harden polymers and create the solid form of organ. These composition helps to find what kind of cross linking to use.
In this last process, the important thing is to check whether the printed organ is ready to transplant in the body or not.
Challenges of 3D bioprinter :
Though we can say that bioprinter is a good technique to give another life to the patients those who are suffering from organ transplantation but still there are some challenges for the scientists to function the bioprinter in the physical world without any wrong. Today mostly the transplants are failed due to anti – suppressant given to the patient. To solve this the only way is to make the organ with patient ‘s tissue. So the T- cells can accept it. But there is a lack of patient tissue availability.
Uses of Bioprinter :
Bioprinters are widely useful in the medical field. The scientists focus on using it for designing the organs for the patients. Bioprinter can be used in tumour cases by replacing the new tissue. It is also used to treat the acid attack,burn mark and the skin damaged in road accidents. It is also applicable in the veterinary science field. The new drugs can also be discovered by bioprinters. Animals can also be treated by this technique, bioprinter – a boon of the future.
By Sri Sivakami R.J , Nagercoil, Tamilnadu
