Cast-Molded Channelized Hydrogel Scaffolds With Stereolithography-Printed Templates

Abstract

Creating internal vascular networks within hydrogel scaffolds is crucial for providing the encapsulated cells with the necessary nutrients, oxygen, and metabolic exchange. Current methods for hydrogel scaffold fabrication face significant hurdles, including the challenge of forming sufficient internal channels, achieving precise scaffold geometry, and maintaining high cell viability, often compromised by the fabrication process and properties of the polymer materials used. Stereolithography (SLA) emerges as a promising 3D printing technique due to its exceptional precision, efficiency, and resolution, allowing for the creation of complex geometries with fine detail. This paper explores the application of SLA as a novel strategy to fabricate hydrogel scaffolds with interconnected small diameter channels, surpassing the capabilities of fused deposition modeling method to create templates. The encapsulated fibroblasts grown in the hydrogel scaffold containing channels showed significantly elevated cell viability compared to the ones without any channels. The capability of this SLA-assisted strategy to create channel structures with encapsulated cells demonstrate significant potential for generating 3D artificial tissue composites with precisely controlled micron-scale channels.