Page 76 - IJB-9-5

International Journal of Bioprinting

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Synthesis of biocompatible BSA-GMA and

two-photon polymerization of 3D hydrogels with
free radical type I photoinitiator

Teng Li , Jie Liu , Min Guo , Fan-Chun Bin , Jian-Yu Wang ,
1,3
1
1,3
1,3
1,3
Atsushi Nakayama , Wei-Cai Zhang , Feng Jin , Xian-Zi Dong ,
1
2
1,3
1
Katsumasa Fujita , Mei-Ling Zheng* 1
2
1 Laboratory of Organic NanoPhotonics and CAS Key Laboratory of Bio-Inspired Materials and
Interfacial Science, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
No. 29 Zhongguancun East Road, Beijing 100190, P. R. China
2 Department of Applied Physics, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
3
School of Future Technologies, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yanqihu Campus,
Beijing 101407, P. R. China
This article belongs to the Special Issue: Fine-tuned Hydrogels for 3D Bioprinting)
Abstract
Although the development of three-dimensional (3D) printing technology is growing
rapidly in the biomedical field, it remains a challenge to achieve arbitrary 3D structures
with high resolution and high efficiency. Protein hydrogels fabricated by two-
photon polymerization (TPP) have excellent mechanical properties, high precision,
and 3D architecture. However, a large number of the amino acid group in bovine
serum albumin (BSA) would be consumed when the protein-based hydrogels use
dyes of free radical type II photoinitiators. In this study, we use glycidyl methacrylate
*Corresponding author: (GMA) to modify BSA molecules to obtain a series of BSA-GMA materials, allowing
Mei-Ling Zheng the protein material to be two-photon polymerized with a water-soluble free
(zhengmeiling@mail.ipc.ac.cn)
radical type I photoinitiator. The precisely controllable 3D structure of the BSA-GMA
Citation: Li T, Liu J, Guo M, et al., hydrogel was fabricated by adjusting the concentration of the precursor solution,
2023, Synthesis of biocompatible
BSA-GMA and two-photon the degree of methacrylation, and the processing parameters of the TPP technique.
polymerization of 3D hydrogels with Importantly, BSA-GMA materials are free of acidic hazardous substances. Meanwhile,
free radical type I photoinitiator. the water-soluble initiator lithium phenyl (2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl) phosphite (LAP)
Int J Bioprint, 9(5): 752.
https://doi.org/10.18063/ijb.752 allows TPP on the vinyl group of the GMA chain and thus without consuming its
amino acid group. The as-prepared BSA-GMA hydrogel structure exhibits excellent
Received: December 30, 2022 autofluorescence imaging, pH responsiveness, and biocompatibility, which would
Accepted: March 21, 2023
Published Online: May 12, 2023 provide new avenues for potential applications in tissue engineering and biomedical
fields to meet specific biological requirements.
Copyright: © 2023 Author(s).
This is an Open Access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution Keywords: Two-photon polymerization; Bovine serum albumin; Hydrogel; Free
License, permitting distribution radical type I initiator; Biocompatible scaffold
and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is
properly cited.
Publisher’s Note: Whioce 1. Introduction
Publishing remains neutral with
regard to jurisdictional claims in The rapid development of three-dimensional (3D) printing technology has attracted
published maps and institutional
affiliations. increasing attention in the field of tissue engineering [1-4] . The optical crosslinking

Volume 9 Issue 5 (2023) 68 https://doi.org/10.18063/ijb.752