A Custom Ultra-Low-Cost 3D Bioprinter Supports Cell Growth and Differentiation

Konstantinos Ioannidis; Rodolfos I Danalatos; Spyridon Champeris Tsaniras; Konstantina Kaplani; Georgia Lokka; Anastasia Kanellou; Dionysios J Papachristou; Georgios Bokias; Zoi Lygerou; Stavros Taraviras

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2020.580889

A Custom Ultra-Low-Cost 3D Bioprinter Supports Cell Growth and Differentiation

Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2020 Nov 4:8:580889. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2020.580889. eCollection 2020.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, University of Patras, Patras, Greece.
² Laboratory of Bone and Soft Tissue Studies, Department of Anatomy-Histology-Embryology, School of Medicine, University of Patras, Patras, Greece.
³ Department of Chemistry, University of Patras, Patras, Greece.
⁴ Department of General Biology, School of Medicine, University of Patras, Patras, Greece.

Abstract

Advances in 3D bioprinting have allowed the use of stem cells along with biomaterials and growth factors toward novel tissue engineering approaches. However, the cost of these systems along with their consumables is currently extremely high, limiting their applicability. To address this, we converted a 3D printer into an open source 3D bioprinter and produced a customized bioink based on accessible alginate/gelatin precursors, leading to a cost-effective solution. The bioprinter's resolution, including line width, spreading ratio and extrusion uniformity measurements, along with the rheological properties of the bioinks were analyzed, revealing high bioprinting accuracy within the printability window. Following the bioprinting process, cell survival and proliferation were validated on HeLa Kyoto and HEK293T cell lines. In addition, we isolated and 3D bioprinted postnatal neural stem cell progenitors derived from the mouse subventricular zone as well as mesenchymal stem cells derived from mouse bone marrow. Our results suggest that our low-cost 3D bioprinter can support cell proliferation and differentiation of two different types of primary stem cell populations, indicating that it can be used as a reliable tool for developing efficient research models for stem cell research and tissue engineering.

Keywords: 3D bioprinting; alginate-gelatin bioink; bone-marrow mesenchymal stem cell; low cost 3D bioprinter; postnatal radial glial cells; stem cell biofabrication.