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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Electrohydrodynamic Jet-Printed Ultrathin

Polycaprolactone Scaffolds Mimicking Bruch’s

Membrane for Retinal Pigment Epithelial Tissue

Engineering

Hang Liu , Fan Wu , Renwei Chen , Yanan Chen , Kai Yao , Zengping Liu ,
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Bhav Harshad Parikh , Linzhi Jing , Tiange Liu , Xinyi Su *, Jie Sun *, Dejian Huang *
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1 Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
2 National University of Singapore (Suzhou) Research Institute, Suzhou, China
3 Department of Mechatronic and Robotics, School of Advanced Technology, Xi’an JiaoTong-Liverpool University,
Suzhou, China
4 Department of Ophthalmology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
Abstract: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of visual loss and affects millions of people
worldwide. Dysfunction of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is associated with the pathogenesis of AMD. The purpose
of this work is to build and evaluate the performance of ultrathin scaffolds with an electrohydrodynamic jet (EHDJ) printing
method for RPE cell culture. We printed two types of ultrathin (around 7 µm) polycaprolactone scaffolds with 20 μm and
50 μm pores, which possess mechanical properties resembling that of native human Bruch’s membrane and are biodegradable.
Light microscopy and cell proliferation assay showed that adult human retinal pigment epithelial (ARPE-19) cells adhered
and proliferated to form a monolayer on the scaffolds. The progress of culture matured on the scaffolds was demonstrated
by immunofluorescence (actin, ZO-1, and Na /K -ATPase) and Western blot analysis of the respective proteins. The RPE
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cells cultured on EHDJ-printed scaffolds with 20 μm pores presented higher permeability, higher transepithelial potential
difference, and higher expression level of Na /K -ATPase than those cultured on Transwell inserts. These findings suggest
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that the EHDJ printing can fabricate scaffolds that mimic Bruch’s membrane by promoting maturation of RPE cells to form
a polarized and functional monolayered epithelium with potential as an in vitro model for studying retinal diseases and
treatment methods.
Keywords: Ultrathin scaffolds; Electrohydrodynamic jet printing; Polycaprolactone; Retinal pigment epithelium
*Correspondence to: Xinyi Su, Department of Ophthalmology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 1E Kent
Ridge Road, NUHS Tower Block, Level 7, Singapore 119228; ophsux@nus.edu.sg;
Jie Sun, Department of Mechatronic and Robotics, Xi’an JiaoTong-Liverpool University, 111 Ren’ai Road, EB326 Suzhou Industrial Park,
Jiangsu, China 215123; Jie.Sun@xjtlu.edu.cn;
Dejian Huang, Department of Food Science and Technology, National University of Singapore, 2 Science Drive 2, S14-06-02, Singapore 117542;
fsthdj@nus.edu.sg
Received: January 1, 2022; Accepted: February 4, 2022; Published Online: April 21, 2022
Citation: Liu H, Wu F, Chen R, et al., 2022, Electrohydrodynamic Jet-Printed Ultrathin Polycaprolactone Scaffolds Mimicking Bruch’s
Membrane for Retinal Pigment Epithelial Tissue Engineering. Int J Bioprint, 8(3):550. http://doi.org/10.18063/ijb.v8i3.550

1. Introduction a substantial global burden . With the progression of
[1]
AMD, retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), a pigmented
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a significant and polarized monolayer tissue, gradually loses the
cause of permanent visual loss and is estimated to bring ability to process the visual signals . Scaffold-based
[2]
© 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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