Affiliations: [a] Biomedical Engineering Department, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO, USA | [b] Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA | [c] Mechanical Engineering Department, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI , USA | [d] BioMolecular Engineering Program, Physics and Chemistry Department, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI, USA
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Wujie Zhang, Department of Physics and Chemistry, Milwaukee School of Engineering, 1025 N Broadway, Milwaukee, WI 53202, USA. Tel.: +1 414 277 7438; Fax: +1 414 277 2878; E-mail: zhang@msoe.edu.
Abstract: One major challenge of bioprinting is to develop a viable bioink to act as an extracellular matrix. This study investigated a novel method for bioprinting using a pectin based bioink. Besides pectin, Pluronic® F-127 was incorporated into the bioink to obtain the desired shape during the initial bioprinting process at 37∘C. Once an object was printed it was treated with Ca2+ (pectin cross-linker) to create the final tissue/organ structure. The results indicated that pectin/Pluronic® F-127 is a potential bioink. Moreover, this methodology provides a novel and fast approach for bioprinting.
