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International Journal of Bioprinting 3D printing and bioprinting in urology

6. Conclusion and outlook of CAS (Grant No. 2019350), the China Postdoctoral
Science Foundation (Grant No. 2023M733668), the
In this review, we summarize the applications of 3D Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation
printing and bioprinting in urology. 3D printing of (2020A1515111190), the Shenzhen Fundamental
diseased urological organs effectively facilitates doctor– Research Foundation (JCYJ20210324113001005), the
patient communication, preoperative planning, and Shenzhen Governmental Sustainable Development
surgical teaching in urology. Furthermore, 3D printing Fund (KCXFZ20201221173612034), the Shenzhen Key
provides urologists with custom-sized medical devices and Laboratory of Kidney Diseases (ZDSYS201504301616234),
reduces medical costs. 3D bioprinting offers new insights and the Shenzhen Fund for Guangdong Provincial
for creating urological tissue-engineered scaffolds from Highlevel Clinical Key Specialties (No. SZGSP001).
biomaterials, living cells, and growth factors. In conclusion,
the integration of 3D printing and bioprinting with urology Conflict of interest
offers new ideas and dynamics for urologists and patients.
The authors declare no conflicts of interests.
In the future, for 3D printing and bioprinting in urology,
the following five directions should be explored in-depth: Author contributions

(i) Novel 3D printing. Currently, extrusion printing Conceptualization: Huawei Qu, Changshun Ruan
is one of the most widely used technologies for 3D Methodology: Kun Liu, Nan Hu, Zhihai Yu, Hualin Ma
printing and bioprinting. The development of new Investigation: Kun Liu, Nan Hu, Xinzhou Zhang, Hualin Ma
3D printing technology is expected to significantly Writing – original draft: Kun Liu, Huawei Qu
boost fabrication speed and accuracy, sample Writing – review & editing: Hualin Ma, Huawei Qu,
mechanical properties, and multi-material printing. Changshun Ruan
(ii) Novel structures. Urological organs have a complex Supervision: Zhihai Yu, Xinzhou Zhang, Changshun Ruan
structure (e.g., kidneys with vessels of varying Funding acquisition: Xinzhou Zhang, Hualin Ma
diameter). The pore structure can facilitate the Ethics approval and consent to participate
growth of blood vessels in tissue regeneration. Based
on the characteristics of 3D printing technology and Not applicable.
materials, the development of new bionic structures
is a topic worthy of research. Consent for publication

(iii) Novel biomaterials. Biomaterials are the primary Not applicable.
matter for 3D printing and bioprinting. Newly
formulated materials can hopefully promote the Availability of data
development of 3D printing and bioprinting in tissue Not applicable.
engineering, including urology.
(iv) Novel bioadditives. Bioadditives are drug triggers References
(such as live cells, growth factors, mRNA) for 1. Walker DA, Hedrick JL, Mirkin CA, 2019, Rapid, large-
tissue regeneration and repair and can initiate and volume, thermally controlled 3D printing using a mobile
accelerate biological processes. liquid interface. Science, 366(6463): 360.
(v) How to balance 3D printing and bioprinting, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax1562
biomimetic structures, biomaterials, and bioadditives 2. Ligon SC, Liska R, Stampfl J, et al., 2017, Polymers for 3D
to obtain urological organ scaffolds with near-natural printing and customized additive manufacturing. Chem Rev,
biological functions is a tricky problem. 117(15): 10212–10290.
Acknowledgments https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.7b00074

None. 3. Skylar-Scott MA, Mueller J, Visser CW, et al., 2019,
Voxelated soft matter via multimaterial multinozzle 3D
Funding printing. Nature, 575(7782): 330–335.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1736-8
This work was supported by the National Key R&D
Program (Grant No. 2018YFA0703100), the National 4. Ouyang L, Armstrong JPK, Lin Y, et al., 2020, Expanding
Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. and optimizing 3D bioprinting capabilities using
32122046), the Youth Innovation Promotion Association complementary network bioinks. Sci Adv, 6(38): eabc5529.

Volume 9 Issue 6 (2023) 338 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijb.0969