Bioprinting in the air
Space experiments have led to the creation of a new method of 3D bioprinting
A new technology of 3D printing of biological tissues has been developed, which has become possible thanks to the research of magnetic levitation in zero gravity. In the future, the development will help to create radiation-sensitive biological structures and restore damaged human tissues and organs. The results are published in the journal Biofabrication (Parfenov et al., Scaffold-free, label-free and nozzle-free biofabrication technology using magnetic levitational assembly). The technology is based on the results of experimental studies supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (RNF).
There are many methods of three-dimensional bioprinting. Most of them use some kind of framework, on which biological tissue cells are applied layer by layer. The resulting bulk material is then sent to an incubator, where cultivation continues. There are ways in which biological objects are created without the use of a framework, for example, magnetic bioprinting, when cellular material is directed to the right place using magnetic fields.In this case, the cells must somehow be labeled with magnetic nanoparticles.
Scientists have developed a new bioprinting method that allows you to create three-dimensional biological objects without using a frame and magnetic tags. This became possible thanks to the research of scientists from the Joint Institute of High Temperatures of the Russian Academy of Sciences (OIVT RAS).
"In the period from 2010 to 2017, a cycle of unique experimental studies was carried out on board the Russian segment of the International Space Station at the Coulomb Crystal installation. The main element of the installation is an electromagnet that creates a specific inhomogeneous magnetic field in which structures of diamagnetic particles (which are magnetized against the direction of the magnetic field) can be formed under microgravity conditions," said one of the authors of the study, Mikhail Vasiliev, head of the Laboratory for Dust Plasma Diagnostics of the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
As part of their experimental research, the staff of the Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences described how small charged particles placed in a magnetic field of a special shape behave in microgravity, that is, in weightlessness. In addition, scientists have compiled a mathematical model of this process based on molecular dynamics methods. Thanks to these results, it became clear how it is possible to obtain homogeneous and extended three-dimensional structures from thousands of particles.
The process of three-dimensional self-assembly in a "magnetic pit".
Drawings from the article in Biofabrication.
The previously existing methods of controlling bioprinting using magnetic fields had a number of limitations related to gravity. To reduce the influence of gravitational forces, it is possible to increase the power of magnets controlling the magnetic field, but this greatly complicates the installation. The second way is to reduce gravity. A team of Russian and foreign scientists followed this path. The new method is called "formative three-dimensional biofacturing", it allows you to create three-dimensional biological structures not in layers, but from all sides at once. In order to control the shape of such objects, scientists used experimental data and the results of mathematical modeling obtained by scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Schematic representation of the experimental setup
with a "magnetic pit" trap for holding biological objects.
"The results of the Coulomb Crystal space experiment on the study of the formation of spatially ordered structures formed the basis of a new method for formative three-dimensional biofacturing of tissue structures carried out by the method of programmable self—assembly of living tissues and organs in the conditions of gravity and microgravity by means of an inhomogeneous magnetic field," the scientist added.
Photos of the received fabric structures
at different magnifications.
Bioprinters based on the new technology will be able to create various biological structures that can be used, for example, to assess the adverse effect of space radiation on the health of astronauts during long-term space missions. Also, according to the authors, in the future this technology will be able to restore the function of damaged tissues and organs.
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