Page 288 - IJB-9-2

International Journal of Bioprinting

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Methodology for characterizing the printability

of hydrogels

Jesús M. Rodríguez-Rego *, Laura Mendoza-Cerezo , Antonio Macías-García ,
2
1
1
Juan P. Carrasco-Amador , Alfonso C. Marcos-Romero 1
1
1 1Department of Graphic Expression, School of Industrial Engineering, University of Extremadura,
Avenida de Elvas, s/n. 06006-Badajoz, Spain
2 2Department of Mechanical, Energy and Materials Engineering, School of Industrial Engineering,
University of Extremadura, Avenida de Elvas, s/n. 06006-Badajoz, Spain

Abstract

Currently, the characterization techniques for hydrogels used in bioprinting are
extensive, and they could provide data on the physical, chemical, and mechanical
properties of hydrogels. While characterizing the hydrogels, the analysis of their
printing properties is of great importance in the determination of their potential
for bioprinting. The study of printing properties provides data on their capacity to
reproduce biomimetic structures and maintain their integrity after the process, as it
also relates them to the possible cell viability after the generation of the structures.
Current hydrogel characterization techniques require expensive measuring
instrument that is not readily available in many research groups. Therefore, it
would be interesting to propose a methodology to characterize and compare the
printability of different hydrogels in a fast, simple, reliable, and inexpensive way. The
*Corresponding author: aim of this work is to propose a methodology for extrusion-based bioprinters that
Jesús M. Rodríguez-Rego allows determining the printability of hydrogels that are going to be loaded with
(jesusrodriguezrego@unex.es)
cells, by analyzing cell viability with the sessile drop method, molecular cohesion
Citation: Rodríguez-Rego JM, with the filament collapse test, adequate gelation with the quantitative evaluation
Mendoza-Cerezo L, Macías-García A,
et al., 2023, Methodology for of the gelation state, and printing precision with the printing grid test. The data
characterizing the printability of obtained after performing this work allow the comparison of different hydrogels or
hydrogels. Int J Bioprint, 9(2): 667. different concentrations of the same hydrogel to determine which one has the most
https://doi.org/10.18063/ijb.v9i2.667
favorable properties to carry out bioprinting studies.
Received: September 06, 2022
Accepted: October 12, 2022
Published Online: January 10, Keywords: Hydrogel; Bioprinting; Printability; Biofabrication window;
2023 Characterization
Copyright: © 2023 Author(s).
This is an Open Access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution
License, permitting distribution 1. Introduction
and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is Bioprinting is an important technique that is constantly evolving and is expected to
properly cited. bring about major breakthrough in the fields of medicine and research. In the future,
Publisher’s Note: Whioce it may help solve the problems associated with the shortage of organ and tissue donors,
Publishing remains neutral with and provide a tool for testing new drugs against different diseases. Bioprinting, which is
regard to jurisdictional claims in based on additive manufacturing technology, could create solid three-dimensional (3D)
published maps and institutional
[1]
affiliations. objects from digital models . This additive manufacturing methodology is extremely

Volume 9 Issue 2 (2023) 280 https://doi.org/10.18063/ijb.v9i2.667