This chapter introduces three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting technology starting by presenting a high-level perspective of tissue engineering and the game-changing role of 3D printing in tissue engineering through additive manufacturing of anatomically correct tissue scaffolds. It then introduces bioprinting or direct cell printing as an emerging technology that has great potential in creating de novo organs. There is a discussion of the components of bioprinting, including the hardware and software aspects as well as the bioink. The chapter then explains the history and evolution of bioprinting technologies, highlighting remarkable milestones during the last decade. Finally, bioprinting technologies are classified into three major groups including extrusion-, droplet- and laser-based bioprinting techniques.
All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them
Galileo Galilei
Table 1.1
A Timeline for the Evolution of Bioprinting Technology up to the Current State of the Art
Year | Development |
1988 | 2D micropositioning of cells using cytoscribing technology |
1996 | Observation that cells stick together and move together in clumps |
1996 | First use of natural biomaterial in human for tissue regeneration |
1998 | Invention of cell sheet technology |
1999 | Laser direct write (LDW) |
2001 | First tissue-engineered bladder (using synthetic scaffold seeded with patient’s own cells) |
2002 | Bioprinting using inkjet technology is enabled |
2003 | Inkjet printing generates viable cells |
2004 | A modified inkjet printer dispenses cells |
2004 | 3D tissue with only cells (no scaffold) is developed |
2006 | 3D cellular assembly of bovine aortal is fabricated |
2007 | Digital printing |
2008 | Concept of tissue spheroids as building blocks |
2009 | First commercial bioprinter (Novogen MMX) |
2009 | Scaffold-free vascular constructs |
2010 | Hepatocytes are patterned in collagen using LDW successfully |
2012 | In situ skin printing |
2012 | Application of inkjet printing to repair human articular cartilage |
2012 | Bipolar wave-based drop-on-demand jetting |
2012 | Engineering of an artificial liver using extrusion-based (syringe) bioprinting |
2014 | Integration of tissue fabrication with printed vasculature using a multiarm bioprinter |
2016 | Bioprinting of larger-scale perfusable tissue constructs |
18.218.212.102