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International Journal of Bioprinting Scaffolds printed with light sheet stereolithography

A B

C

Figure 5. (A) Microscope image taken from the top of the six layers scaffold. The black lines depict the pattern orientations (scale bar: 500 μm). (B) 3D
reconstruction of a segment from the same scaffold performed using confocal microscopy. The colors in the struts and the color bar show the height of the
top of the layers. (C) Computer-assisted design model of the pore morphology in a 3D construct represented by the blue volume contained within the struts.

4. Conclusions Acknowledgments
This work presents a 3D scaffold printing approach by The authors wish to acknowledge the assistance given
implementing LS illumination on conventional VP. We by Julie Verdood and Tatevik Chalyan in performing the
built a proof-of-concept demonstrator using commercial image acquisition of the samples using the measurement
components and demonstrated its ability to fabricate equipment available at Brussels Photonics, Vrije Universiteit
scaffolds with microscale features using linear voxels as Brussel.
structuring element. The results show printed scaffolds
with high resolution: A strut thickness of 12.8 ± 1.8 μm, Funding
tunable and uniform pore sizes ranging from 36 μm This study was financially supported by Fonds
to 150 μm, and a large size fabrication with areas up to Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (G044516N and 1252722N),
21.4 mm × 20.6 mm. Based on the results shown in this Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Hercules, Methusalem, OZR),
work, we demonstrated that LS printing is able to provide and H2020 Future and Emerging Technologies (FET-
a large printing area while conserving the fabrication of OPEN No.829104, SensApp).
small features in one direction with length-to-width ratios
that can easily surpass a value of l/w = 1600. Therefore, large Conflict of interest
structures (>400 mm²) with micrometer features (<20 μm)
can be fabricated at high speeds (>700 mm/s) and short The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
printing times (<3.5 s/layer). Furthermore, the ability to Author contributions
construct complex and 3D architectures was demonstrated
with a scaffold composed of six layers of 45°-oriented Conceptualization: Alejandro Madrid Sánchez, Fabian
patterns, which can benefit the fabrication of architectures Duerr, Yunfeng Nie, and Heidi Ottevaere
that regulate cell ingrowth, oxygen, and nutrient diffusion Funding acquisition: Heidi Ottevaere
with tailored mechanical properties. Finally, our promising Investigation: Alejandro Madrid Sánchez
results on the commercially available components clearly Resources: Hugo Thienpont and Heidi Ottevaere
highlight the prospects for scaling-up and enhancing this Validation: Alejandro Madrid Sánchez
approach for tissue engineering applications. Writing – original draft: Alejandro Madrid Sánchez

Volume 9 Issue 2 (2023) 35 https://doi.org/10.18063/ijb.v9i2.650