An Integrated Design, Material, and Fabrication Platform for Engineering Biomechanically and Biologically Functional Soft Tissues

• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.7b08617
• Publication Date: 2017-08-17T14:52:56Z
• Authors: Onur Bas; Davide D’Angella; Jeremy G. Baldwin; Nathan J. Castro; Felix M. Wunner; Navid T. Saidy; Stefan Kollmannsb...; Alessandro Reali; Ernst Rank; Elena M. De-Juan-...; Dietmar W. Hutmacher
• Keywords: interpenetrating polymer network; 0301 basic medicine; Tissue Engineering; Polymers; melt electrospinning writing; Hydrogels; 3D printing; biomimetic; 540; 620; fiber reinforcement; 03 medical and health sciences; Connective Tissue; tissue engineering; Materials Science (all); hydrogel; interpenetrating network; soft network composite

We present a design rationale for stretchable soft network composites for engineering tissues that predominantly function under high tensile loads. The convergence of 3D-printed fibers selected from a design library and biodegradable interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) result in biomimetic tissue engineered constructs (bTECs) with fully tunable properties that can match specific tissue requirements. We present our technology platform using an exemplary soft network composite model that is characterized to be flexible, yet ∼125 times stronger (E = 3.19 MPa) and ∼100 times tougher (WExt = ∼2000 kJ m-3) than its hydrogel counterpart.