Recent advances in biofabrication strategies based on bioprinting for vascularized tissue repair and regeneration

Abstract

Vascularization plays a crucial role in transporting and exchanging nutrients and oxygen between implanted grafts with the host tissue. In the biofabrication of the implanted grafts, remodeling the vascular networks can accelerate vascularized tissue repair and regeneration. Given the heterogeneity of vascular networks in vascularized tissues, traditional scaffold manufacturing techniques cannot effectively achieve vascular with various scales in vitro and in vivo biomimetic. In recent years, 3D bioprinting technologies have been widely used in fabricating various 3D grafts for tissue repair and regeneration due to their shape customizability, simple manufacturing procedure, reproducibility, and precise multi-dimensional control. With the rapid development of 3D bioprinting technologies, bioprinting-based biofabrication strategies have been gradually applied in the construction of various vascularized tissues. Based on this background, our study aimed to review recent advances, challenges, and future perspectives in biofabrication strategies based on bioprinting for vascularized tissue repair and regeneration. The bioprinting techniques, bioinks, seed cells, and growth factors used for vascularized tissue construction were also enrolled in this review. In addition, the bioprinting history, vessel formation mechanism, and histology of vascular networks in vascularized tissue were also discussed.

Keywords

• Bioprinting
• Biofabrication
• Vascularization
• Tissue regeneration
• Bioinks