InkJet bioprinting as an effective tool for tissue fabrication

Recently, 3D printing and rapid prototyping techniques have been applied in tissue engineering. Many of them are used in fabricating of scaffolds of tissues, which is essential in the conservative scaffold guided tissue engineering. However, this approach using simple scaffold has some limitations to manufacture complex, large-scaled, and multi-type cells composed tissues with good reproducibility. Then, we have ever explored the application of inkjet technique as the technologies to position and arrange such biological materials as living cells, proteins and growth factors arbitrary onto an intentionally targeted position, in three dimensions. There were several problems to be overcome, when using living cells and biological materials instead of inks. Although we have confirmed that living cells could be safely printed by inkjet with keeping living condition, cells are soon dried and dye, and printed lines are easy to mix together, and 3D structures are never constructed with cells in the liquid medium Then, we invented inkjet hydrogel forming technique to solve such problems. Applying inkjet hydrogel forming technique, we succeeded to prevent cells from drying, and to avoid from ink mixture, and 3D structures could also be constructed. InkJet bioprinting has many advantages and much possibility as a tool for 3D tissue engineering.