A glimmer of hope: 3D printing provides possibility of overcoming insufficient oxygen supply in implanted cells through development of synthetic bioink which generates O2 during transplant.
Cells require oxygen to survive. Thus a global team spread between three continents have recently worked to address this problem by developing a synthetic technique for maintaining oxygen supply in the days before the blood vessels arrive.
The team then demonstrated the potential of their technology by 3D printing two varieties of the optimized bioink; one with embedded heart cells and one with embedded fibroblasts. These cells were cultured in low oxygen conditions for seven days. The cells cultured in the bioink with embedded calcium peroxide showed significantly improved viability compared with a control.
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