3D Nanofiber-Assisted\nEmbedded Extrusion Bioprinting\nfor Oriented Cardiac Tissue Fabrication

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting technology stands\nout as a promising\ntissue manufacturing process to control the geometry precisely with\ncell-loaded bioinks. However, the isotropic culture environment within\nthe bioink and the lack of topographical cues impede the formation\nof oriented cardiac tissue. To overcome this limitation, we present\na novel method named 3D nanofiber-assisted embedded bioprinting (3D-NFEP)\nto fabricate cardiac tissue with an oriented morphology. Aligned 3D\nnanofiber scaffolds were fabricated by divergence electrospinning,\nwhich provided structural support for printing of the low-viscosity\nbioink and structural induction to cardiomyocytes. Cells adhered to\nthe aligned fibers after hydrogel degradation, and a high degree of\ncell alignment was observed. This technology was also demonstrated\nas a feasible solution for multilayer cell printing. Therefore, 3D-NFEP\nwas demonstrated as a promising method for bioprinting oriented cardiac\ntissue with low-viscosity bioink and is expected to be applied for\nstructured and cardiac tissue engineering.