Electric‐Field‐Driven Printed 3D Highly Ordered Microstructure with Cell Feature Size Promotes the Maturation of Engineered Cardiac Tissues
Authors:
G Zhang, W Li, M Yu, H Huang, Y Wang, Z Han, K Shi
Publisher:
Advanced Science
Abstract:
Engineered cardiac tissues (ECTs) derived from human induced pluripotentstem cells (hiPSCs) are viable alternatives for cardiac repair, patient-specificdisease modeling, and drug discovery. However, the immature state of ECTslimits their clinical utility. The microenvironment fabricated using 3D scaffoldscan affect cell fate, and is crucial for the maturation of ECTs. Herein, theauthors demonstrate an electric-field-driven (EFD) printed 3D highly orderedmicrostructure with cell feature size to promote the maturation of ECTs. Thesimulation and experimental results demonstrate that the EFD jet microscale3D printing overcomes the jet repulsion without any prior requirements forboth conductive and insulating substrates. Furthermore, the 3D highlyordered microstructures with a fiber diameter of 10–20μmandspacingof60–80μm have been fabricated by maintaining a vertical jet, achieving thelargest ratio of fiber diameter/spacing of 0.29. The hiPSCs-derivedcardiomyocytes formed ordered ECTs with their sarcomere growth along thefiber and developed synchronous functional ECTs inside the 3D-printedscaffold with matured calcium handling compared to the 2D coverslip.Therefore, the EFD jet 3D microscale printing process facilitates thefabrication of scaffolds providing a suitable microenvironment to promote thematuration of ECTs, thereby showing great potential for cardiac tissueengineering.
