Characterization of ADA-GEL Based Hydrogels Combined with Mesoporous Bioactive Glass Nanoparticles (MBGNs) and Human Platelet Lysate (HPL) for 3D (Bio)Printing

Abstract

With the emergence of 3D bioprinting, tissue repair strategies have become more sophisticated and multifunctional. Natural biomaterials like alginate and gelatin have been widely studied to formulate bioinks due to their excellent biocompatibility and biodegradable characteristics. However, the requirement for balanced features combining adjustable degradation rate, printability, and biological functionality is still hard to achieve. In this study, alginate dialdehyde (ADA) – gelatin (GEL) based hydrogels have been supplemented with mesoporous bioactive glass nanoparticles (MBGNs) and human platelet lysate (HPL) to enhance the biological performance. MBGNs can reduce the degradation of ADA-GEL 3D printed scaffolds and induce a mineralization effect while HPL is added as a source of growth factors. Improved printability and higher shape fidelity are observed by incorporating 0.1% (w/v) MBGNs, however, the addition of HPL led to a slight decrease in 3D printed shape fidelity. On the other hand, MBGNs and HPL both presented positive effects to improve cell activity and viability, which is characterized by using MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblast cells. The ADA-GEL-based hydrogel with the incorporation of 0.1% (w/v) MBGNs and 5% (v/v) HPL shows the most balanced features, making it a promising biomaterial for 3D bioprinting of bone tissue scaffolds.