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Andy Wen Loong Liew and Yilei Zhang
can be perfused with medium to enhance the viability merized material, leaving behind a perfusable micro-
of cells within the surrounding polymerized gel [56] . channel which provides nutrients to encapsulated cells
The fabrication procedure used previously by another thus simulating our native microvessels. In their report,
research group is shown schematically in Figure 6 [57] . the generation of microporous cell-laden hydrogel
A pre-polymer solution (with or without cells) is cast constructs through sucrose crystal leaching was shown
and polymerized around a wire held in suspension by to enhance diffusivity through the construct and in-
mechanical supports. After complete polymerization, crease viability of encapsulated cells. A clear advan-
the wire is then manually withdrawn from the poly- tage of this approach is the ability to incorporate
Figure 5. PDMS stamping technique used for Fn micropatterning on coverslips. hEPCs were confined within Fn strips and demon-
strated controlled elongation along strip direction. Scale bars are 50μm. (Adopted from Raghavan et al. [49] )
International Journal of Bioprinting (2017)–Volume 3, Issue 1 11
