Page 140 - IJB-9-6

International

Journal of Bioprinting

RESEARCH ARTICLE
3D-printed hydrogels dressings with bioactive

borate glass for continuous hydration and
treatment of second-degree burns

Fateme Fayyazbakhsh 1,2,3 *, Michael J. Khayat , Candy Sadler , Delbert Day ,
4
6
5
Yue-Wern Huang , and Ming C. Leu 1,2,3
3,7
1 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Missouri University of Science and
Technology, Rolla, Missouri, USA
2 Intelligent System Center, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, Missouri, USA
3 Center for Biomedical Research, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla,
Missouri, USA
4 Department of Materials Engineering, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
5 Wound Clinic, Phelps Health Hospital, Rolla, Missouri, USA
6 Department of Material Science and Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology,
Rolla, Missouri, USA
7
Department of Biological Sciences, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla,
Missouri, USA
Abstract

Recent advances in additive manufacturing have led to the development of
innovative solutions for tissue regeneration. Hydrogel materials have gained
significant attention for burn wound treatment in clinical practice among various
*Corresponding authors: advanced dressings due to their soothing and moisturizing activity. However,
Fateme Fayyazbakhsh prolonged healing, pain, and traumatic removal due to the lack of long-term wound
(f.fba@mst.edu) hydration are some of the challenges in the treatment of second-degree burn
Citation: Fayyazbakhsh F, wounds. In this study, 3D-printed dressings were fabricated using gelatin, alginate,
Khayat MJ, Sadler C, et al., 2023, and bioactive borate glass (BBG) using an extrusion-based bioprinter. After ionic
3D-printed hydrogels dressings with
bioactive borate glass for contin- crosslinking, the 3D-printed dressings were characterized for mechanical properties,
uous hydration and treatment of degradation rate, hydration activity, and in vitro cell viability using human fibroblasts.
second-degree burns. Int J Bioprint, The results demonstrated that in 3D-printed dressings with 20 wt% BBG, Young’s
9(6): 0118.
https://doi.org/10.36922/ijb.0118 modulus increased by 105%, and 10-day degradation rate decreased by 62%.
Addition of BBG prevented the burst release of water from hydrogel dressings and
Received: April 06, 2023 enabled the continuous water release for up to 10 days, which is crucial in treating
Accepted: June 02, 2023
Published Online: July 14, 2023 second-degree burn wounds. 3D-printed hydrogel dressings with BBG showed long-
term cell viability that can be a result of the accumulative release of therapeutic ions
Copyright: © 2023 Author(s).
This is an Open Access article from BBG particulate. The in vivo wound healing functionality of the dressings was
distributed under the terms of the investigated using a rat model with a second-degree burn wound. Our animal study
Creative Commons Attribution showed that the 3D-printed dressings with BBG exhibited faster wound closure, non-
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, adhesive contact, non-invasive debridement, and non-traumatic dressing removal.
provided the original work is Histological analysis suggested that 3D-printed dressings contributed to more
properly cited. uniform re-epithelialization and tissue remodeling compared to the non-printed
Publisher’s Note: AccScience hydrogels of the same compositions. Critically, 3D-printed dressings with BBG led to
Publishing remains neutral with significant regeneration of hair follicles compared to the 3D-printed hydrogel, non-
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional printed hydrogel, and the control groups. The superior outcome of the 3D-printed
affiliations. hydrogel–BBG20 dressings can be attributed to the bioactive formulation, which

Volume 9 Issue 6 (2023) 132 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijb.0118