Page 165 - IJB-10-4

International

Journal of Bioprinting

RESEARCH ARTICLE
3D printing collagen type IV for corneal

endothelium transplantation

Morgan Overmass , Huasheng Huang 1,2 id , Li Wen , Zhi Chen 4 id ,
1,2
2,3
Sepidar Sayyar , Constantinos Petsoglou , Gordon Wallace 4,5 id ,
4,5
1,3
Gerard Sutton 2,3,6 id , and Jingjing You *
1,2 id
1 School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney,
Australia
2 Save Sight Institute, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
3 NSW Tissue Bank, Sydney, Australia
4 ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterial Science, Intelligent Polymer Research Institute,
AIIM, Innovation Campus, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia
5 Australian National Fabrication Facility – Materials Node, Innovation Campus, University of
Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia
6 Vision Eye Institute, Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia
(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Biomimetic and bioinspired printed structures)

Abstract

Collagen type IV (Col-IV) is a critical matrix protein component in the basement
membrane. In the cornea, it is the key contributor to the formation of Descemet’s
membrane — the layer for corneal endothelial cells to reside on. Currently,
endothelial keratopathy, which uses the healthy donor corneal endothelium layer as
a transplanted tissue, is the gold standard surgery to cure corneal blindness caused
by endothelial dysfunction. However, its use is being limited by the shortage of
donor corneas. Bioengineering Descemet’s membrane is an alternative to overcome
*Corresponding author: the tissue shortage. In this study, we developed a printable Col-IV ink to construct a
Jingjing You
(jing.you@sydney.edu.au) Col-IV membrane. We demonstrated that the printed Col-IV membrane has a seven
times higher corneal endothelial cell attachment over other matrix proteins (e.g.,

Citation: Overmass M, Huang H,

Wen L, et al. 3D printing Col-I, laminin, and chondroitin) and a significantly faster healing rate compared to

collagen type IV for corneal Col-I. The human endothelial cells cultured on the Col-IV membrane retained their
endothelium transplantation. hexagonal shapes, expressed typical endothelial markers ZO-1 and Na /K -ATPase,
+
+
Int J Bioprint. 2024;10(4):3258.
doi: 10.36922/ijb.3258 and retained the ability to deposit laminin. As this collagen subtype is prevalent in
the basement membranes of all body tissues, our work suggests an important role
Received: March 25, 2024
Accepted: May 9, 2024 for Col-IV as a printable biomaterial in tissue engineering in general.
Published Online: June 21, 2024
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s). Keywords: Collagen type IV; Bioprinting; Corneal endothelium; Basement mem-
This is an Open Access article brane; Printable biomaterial; Endothelium transplant
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is
properly cited. 1. Introduction
Publisher’s Note: AccScience Collagen type IV (Col-IV) is a network-forming collagen found in all basement
Publishing remains neutral with membranes, essential for cellular attachment and forming boundaries. Deficiencies
1
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional and mutations in Col-IV can lead to abnormal basement membrane structure and
2,3
affiliations. various diseases affecting tissues throughout the body. As an important extracellular
Volume 10 Issue 4 (2024) 157 doi: 10.36922/ijb.3258