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REVIEW ARTICLE

Application of Bioprinting in Ophthalmology

Yanfang Wang 1,2,3† , Jiejie Wang , Ziyu Ji , Wei Yan , Hong Zhao , Wenhua Huang 2,3,4 *, Huan Liu *
4†
5†
6
8
7
1 Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology (Chongqing University), Ministry of Education, Chongqing,
400045, China
2 Guangdong Engineering Research Center for Translation of Medical 3D Printing Application, Guangdong Provincial Key
Laboratory of Medical Biomechanics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515,
China
3 Guangdong Innovation Platform for Translation of 3D Printing Application, The third Affiliated Hospital of Southern
Medical University, Guangzhou 510630, China
4 Department of Anatomy, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China
5 College of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Southwest Medical University, Lu Zhou 646000, China
6 Department of Anatomy, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050011, China
7 School of Basic Medicine, Guangdong Medical University, Dongguan, Guangdong 523000, China
8 National Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinical Research Base, The Affiliated Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital of
Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan 646000, China
† These authors contributed equally to this work.

Abstract: Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting is an emerging technology that is widely used in regenerative medicine.
With the continuous development of the technology, it has attracted great attention and demonstrated promising prospects in
ophthalmologic applications. In this paper, we review the three main types of 3D bioprinting technologies: Vat polymerization-
based bioprinting, extrusion-based bioprinting, and jetting-based bioprinting. We also present in this review the analysis of
the usage of both natural and synthesized hydrogels as well as the types of cells adopted for bioinks. Cornea and retina are the
two main types of ocular tissues developed in bioprinting, while other device and implants were also developed for the ocular
disease treatment. We also summarize the advantages and limitations as well as the future prospects of the current bioprinting
technologies based on systematic reviews.

Keywords: Bioprinting; Ophthalmology; Bioinks; Biomaterials; Ocular bioprinting

*Correspondence to: Wenhua Huang, Guangdong Innovation Platform for Translation of 3D Printing Application, The third Affiliated Hospital
of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510150, China; huangwenhua2009@139.com; Huan Liu, National Traditional Chinese
Medicine Clinical Research Base, The Affiliated Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan, 646000,
China; 20016040@163.com
Received: December 15, 2021; Accepted: February 22, 2022; Published Online: February 22, 2022
Citation: Wang Y, Wang J, Ji Z, et al., 2022, Application of Bioprinting in Ophthalmology. Int J Bioprint, 8(2):552. http://doi.
org/10.18063/ijb.v8i2.552
1. Introduction development mostly in the last decades and is used in a
wide range of medical applications nowadays .
[5]
Bioprinting is an additive biofabrication method that
prints target tissue engineering structures automatically In ophthalmology, three-dimensional (3D) printing is
by depositing bioinks in a layer-by-layer manner . utilized for diverse purposes, varying from the fabrication of
[1]
[6]
The technology attempts to produce original-tissue-like preoperative eye models , personalized lens [7,8] , glasses [9,10]
[9]
constructs through the precise combination of living and to other implants . However, in tissue engineering and
cells, natural or synthesized biomaterials, crosslinkers, regenerative medicine, the use of bioprinting in fabricating
and/or other functional factors . Since the emergence of ocular tissues and preserving relevant biological functions
[2]
the invention [3,4] , bioprinting has been subject to persistent still need to be further studied.
© 2022 Author(s). This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting distribution and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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