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REVIEW ARTICLE

Solvent-based Extrusion 3D Printing for the Fabrication

of Tissue Engineering Scaffolds

Bin Zhang , Rodica Cristescu , Douglas B. Chrisey , Roger J. Narayan *
2
1
3
1
1 Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University, Raleigh,
NC 27606, USA
2 National Institute for Lasers, Plasma and Radiation Physics, Lasers Department, P.O. Box MG-36, Bucharest-Magurele,
Romania
3 Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA

Abstract: Three-dimensional (3D) printing has been emerging as a new technology for scaffold fabrication to overcome
the problems associated with the undesirable microstructure associated with the use of traditional methods. Solvent-based
extrusion (SBE) 3D printing is a popular 3D printing method, which enables incorporation of cells during the scaffold printing
process. The scaffold can be customized by optimizing the scaffold structure, biomaterial, and cells to mimic the properties
of natural tissue. However, several technical challenges prevent SBE 3D printing from translation to clinical use, such as the
properties of current biomaterials, the difficulties associated with simultaneous control of multiple biomaterials and cells, and
the scaffold-to-scaffold variability of current 3D printed scaffolds. In this review paper, a summary of SBE 3D printing for
tissue engineering (TE) is provided. The influences of parameters such as ink biomaterials, ink rheological behavior, cross-
linking mechanisms, and printing parameters on scaffold fabrication are considered. The printed scaffold structure, mechanical
properties, degradation, and biocompatibility of the scaffolds are summarized. It is believed that a better understanding of the
scaffold fabrication process and assessment methods can improve the functionality of SBE-manufactured 3D printed scaffolds.

Keywords: Solvent-based extrusion 3D printing, Ink materials, Ink rheology, Fabrication process parameters,
Tissue scaffolds

*Corresponding Author: Roger J. Narayan, Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina and North Carolina State
University, Raleigh, NC 27606, USA; roger_narayan@unc.edu

Received: May 30, 2019; Accepted: December 2, 2019; Published Online: January 17, 2020
Citation: Zhang B, Cristescu R, Chrisey DB, et al., 2020, Solvent-based extrusion 3D printing for the fabrication of tissue
engineering scaffolds. Int J Bioprint, 6(1):211. DOI: 10.18063/ijb.v6i1.211

1 Introduction reproducibility [2-5] . SBE 3D printing is one of
the most popular 3D printing techniques. The
3D printing, which is also referred as additive biomaterials are placed in solvents to create
manufacturing, is a process in which a scaffold
architecture is initially designed with computer- inks; these inks are extruded from nozzles as
aided design (CAD) file and subsequently filaments in layer-by-layer manner to form the
fabricated in a layer-by-layer manner . scaffold structure [6-10] . The currently utilized
[1]
3D printing can overcome the limitations ink biomaterials are natural polymers, synthetic
of traditional scaffold fabrication methods polymers, ceramics, and their combinations. SBE
in terms of scaffold interconnectivity and 3D printing has been performed with or without

© 2020 Zhang, et al. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
original work is properly cited.
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