Page 512 - IJB-10-3

International Journal of Bioprinting 3D printing microgroove nerve conduits

advanced composite materials that include natural Acknowledgements
polymers such as gelatin, collagen, fibrin, chitosan, and We are grateful for the technical support from Boston
silk fibroin to promote cell attachment and proliferation. Micro Fabrication.
61
Furthermore, incorporation of other guidance modalities
(e.g., aligned fibres and channels) and patterning of Funding
neurotrophic factors including nerve growth factor (NGF),
neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), glial-derived neurotrophic factor This work was supported by the Engineering and
(GDNF), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) Physical Sciences Research Council (UK) Doctoral Prize
to promote axonal outgrowth and cell migration are Fellowship (EP/R513131/1) and the Henry Royce Institute
desirable. Additionally, the role of microgroove size and for Advanced Materials, funded through EPSRC grants
shape in other relevant neuronal cell types should be EP/R00661X/1, EP/S019367/1, EP/P025021/1, and EP/
explored. The versatility of the PµSL casting technique P025498/1.
enables these further outlined studies to be achieved.
Conflict of interest
4. Conclusion The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

This study used PµSL 3D printing as an alternative to the
expensive, time-consuming, and complex conventional Author contributions
photolithography techniques to fabricate master moulds Conceptualization: Hexin Yue, Cian Vyas, Paulo Bartolo
for the casting of microgroove topographies for PNI Formal analysis: Hexin Yue, Cian Vyas
applications. The 3D-printed master moulds and the Investigation: Hexin Yue, Xuzhao Liu, Kejian Hou,
casted PDMS moulds closely match the microgroove Cian Vyas
design and exhibit high-quality surface features. This Methodology: Hexin Yue, Xuzhao Liu, Kejian Hou,
enabled the casting of biodegradable PCL and PCL/PLA Cian Vyas
films with microgroove topographies (10/10/10, 20/20/10, Writing – original draft: Hexin Yue
25/25/10, and 30/30/10 µm) that could be assembled into Writing – review & editing: Cian Vyas, Paulo Bartolo
a cylindrical NGC.
The PCL/PLA films exhibited a more hydrophilic Ethics approval and consent to participate
and smoother surface with lower mechanical properties, Not applicable.
closer to native peripheral nerve tissue, in comparison
to PCL. PCL and PCL/PLA showed high SH-SY5Y cell Consent for publication
viability, but higher cell attachment and proliferation
was observed on PCL/PLA films. All microgroove films Not applicable.
induced cell alignment. The smaller microgrooves (10–25 Availability of data
µm) exhibited a more highly ordered cell arrangement and
elongation with less cell clustering. Thus, the PCL/PLA The data utilised in this study are available from the
smaller microgroove films show potential for inducing cell corresponding author upon reasonable request.
contact guidance for peripheral nerve applications.
References
The simplicity and low cost of the PµSL approach to
fabricate the master mould offer the potential to directly 1. Lackington WA, Ryan AJ, O’Brien FJ. Advances in nerve
cast samples and remove the intermediate PDMS mould. guidance conduit-based therapeutics for peripheral nerve
This can help accelerate the manufacturing process, and repair. ACS Biomater Sci Eng. 2017;3(7):1221-1235.
extra moulds can be printed rapidly in the case of master doi: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.6b00500
mould damage. Furthermore, 3D printing can allow 2. Bryan DJ, Tang JB, Doherty SA, et al. Enhanced peripheral
the development of more complex moulds to fabricate nerve regeneration through a poled bioresorbable poly
the entire cylindrical conduit whilst incorporating (lactic-co-glycolic acid) guidance channel. J Neural Eng.
microgroove topographies. This is especially relevant for 2004;1(2):91.
non-photocrosslinkable biomaterials, as demonstrated in doi: 10.1088/1741-2560/1/2/004
this study, that are not suitable for direct processing with 3. Slavin BR, Sarhane KA, von Guionneau N, et al. Insulin-like
PµSL. Subsequently, this study establishes the potential growth factor-1: a promising therapeutic target for peripheral
of using PµSL for fabricating microtemplated moulds for nerve injury. Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2021;9:695850.
PNI applications. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2021.695850

Volume 10 Issue 3 (2024) 504 doi: 10.36922/ijb.2725