The design and development of a 3D printer compatible bioreactor for tendon tissue engineering

Abstract

Tendon and ligament tissue engineering aims to provide an alternative tissue graft for patients with acute injuries that require surgical intervention. Alternatives are necessary due to limited availability of allografts and autografts or other shortcomings in current biomaterial technologies. Tissue engineering accomplishes this through the combination of three key components: a cell source, scaffold and mechanical or chemical stimulation. While mechanical stimulation is the gold-standard for achieving tenogenic differentiation in progenitor cells, this work discusses many different methods of stimulation a differentiative response. Additionally, a great amount of recent work has been done in the field of biomaterials, and discovering new materials that can be combined with cells and stimulation techniques to achieve a more suitable graft. Additionally, further work is needed in optimizing the mechanostimulation regimen utilized in cultures. This work proposes a study in which shorter stimulation times are incorporated within more frequent rest periods to allow cells time to adapt and overcome refractory periods. Additionally, a new method of designing and producing bioreactors is proposed using fused deposition modeling, the most common 3D printing method, that allows for easy changing and rapid production of replacement parts. Finally, new protocols were developed to isolate infection sources in bioreactor cultures.