Multidirectional Filamented Light Biofabrication Creates Aligned and Contractile Cardiac Tissues
Biofabricating 3D cardiac tissues that mimic the native myocardial tissue is a pivotal challenge in tissue engineering. In this study, we fabricate 3D cardiac tissues with controlled, multidirectional cellular alignment and directed or twisting contractility. We show that multidirectional filamented light can be used to biofabricate high-density (up to 60 × 10<sup>6</sup> cells mL<sup>-1</sup>) tissues, with directed uniaxial contractility (3.8x) and improved cell-to-cell connectivity (1.6x gap junction expression). Furthermore, by using multidirectional light projection, we can partially overcome cell-induced light attenuation, and fabricate larger tissues with multidirectional cellular alignment. For example, we fabricate a tri-layered myocardium-like tissue and a bi-layered tissue with torsional contractility. The approach provides a new strategy to rapidly fabricate aligned cardiac tissues relevant to regenerative medicine and biohybrid robotics.
Authors
- Susanne Freedrich
- Maria Narciso (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4994-1691)
- Lewis S. Jones (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0381-2285)
- Öncay Yaşa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0282-6127)
- Aiste Balciunaite (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9645-9868)
- Melanie Generali (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8396-3256)
- Miriam Filippi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9651-406X)
- Gal Aviel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5124-1195)
- Robert K. Katzschmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7143-7259)
- Mike Y. Michelis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5291-0255)
- Eldad Tzahor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5212-9426)
Institutions
- University of Zurich (CH)
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- Swiss Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CH)
- Weizmann Institute of Science (IL)
- Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (CH)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Science
- Published
- 2024-10-07
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202404509
- Citations
- 12
- Primary Topic
- 3D Printing in Biomedical Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.21
Funders
- Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
- Universität Zürich
- ETH Zürich Foundation
- Olga Mayenfisch Stiftung
- Holcim Stiftung zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Fortbildung
- Mäxi-Stiftung