Page 181 - IJB-9-3

International Journal of Bioprinting

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Combination of 3D printing and electrospinning

to develop chitin/gelatin/PVA scaffolds

Teresa Carranza , Jone Uranga , Ainhoa Irastorza , Ander Izeta ,
2
2
1
1
Pedro Guerrero 1,3,4 *, Koro de la Caba *
1,3
1 BIOMAT Research Group, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Escuela de Ingeniería de
Gipuzkoa, Plaza de Europa 1, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
2 Biodonostia Health Research Institute, Tissue Engineering Group, P° Dr. Beguiristain s/n, 20014,
Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
3
BCMaterials, Basque Center for Materials, Applications and Nanostructures, UPV/EHU Science
Park, 48940, Leioa, Spain
4 Proteinmat materials SL, Avenida de Tolosa 72, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Advances in the Application of Bioprinted Biomaterials in Tissue
Engineering.)

Abstract
In this study, novel scaffolds based on natural polymers were developed by combining
3D printing (3DP) and electrospinning (ES) techniques. ES ink was prepared with
gelatin and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), while 3DP ink was prepared with gelatin and
chitin. Different biopolymers were used to confer unique properties to each ink and
obtain a multilayered scaffold suitable for tissue regeneration. First, gelatin is able to
exhibit the characteristics needed for both inks since gelatin chains contain arginine-
*Corresponding authors: glycine-aspartic (RGD) motifs, an important sequence in the promotion of cell
Pedro Guerrero adhesion, which gives gelatin an improved biological behavior in comparison to other
(pedromanuel.guerrero@ehu.es) polymers. Additionally, PVA was selected for ES ink to facilitate gelatin spinnability,
Koro de la Caba and chitin was incorporated into 3DP ink as reinforcement to provide mechanical
(koro.delacaba@ehu.es)
support and protection to the overall design. In this work, chitin was extracted from
Citation: Carranza T, Uranga J, fruit fly pupae. The high extraction yield and purity of the chitin obtained from the
Irastorza A, et al., 2023,
Combination of 3D printing and fruit fly pupae confirmed that this pupa is an alternative source to produce chitin.
electrospinning to develop chitin/ Once the chitin was characterized, both inks were prepared and rheological analysis
gelatin/PVA scaffolds. Int J Bioprint, was carried out in order to confirm the shear thinning behavior required for additive
9(3): 701.
https://doi.org/10.18063/ijb.701 manufacturing processes. The combination of 3DP and ES processes resulted in
porous scaffolds, which were proven biocompatible, highlighting their potential for
Received: October 04, 2022 biomedical applications.
Accepted: November 05, 2022
Published Online: March 6, 2023
Copyright: © 2023 Author(s). Keywords: Fruit fly pupae; Chitin; Gelatin; 3D printing; Electrospinning; Scaffolds
This is an Open Access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, 1. Introduction
provided the original work is
properly cited. Millions of tonnes of biowaste are generated annually by agricultural and industrial
[1]
Publisher’s Note: Whioce activities , leading to a diverse array of environmental issues [2,3] . The potential of
Publishing remains neutral with biowaste to produce value-added products can help boost the circular economy and
regard to jurisdictional claims in lead to a significant reduction in the amounts of waste generated and to the efficiency
published maps and institutional
affiliations. in the use of resources. In this context, fruit fly pupae (Ceratitis capitata) can be

Volume 9 Issue 3 (2023) 173 https://doi.org/10.18063/ijb.701