Light-Based 3D Printing of Gelatin-Based Biomaterial Inks to Create a Physiologically Relevant In Vitro Fish Intestinal Model

• Published in: Macromolecular bioscience 2023-10, Vol.23 (10), p.e2300016-e2300016
• Main Authors: Szabó, Anna, Pasquariello, Rolando, Costa, Pedro F, Pavlovic, Radmila, Geurs, Indi, Dewettinck, Koen, Vervaet, Chris, Brevini, Tiziana A L, Gandolfi, Fulvio, Van Vlierberghe, Sandra
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 3-D printers; Biocompatibility; Biomaterials; Biomedical materials; Cell culture; Computer architecture; Dextran; Dextrans; Epithelial cells; Epithelium; Feeding trials; Fish feeds; Fish meal; Gelatin; Hydrogels; Inks; Intestine; Mechanical properties; Microenvironments; Nutrients; Oncorhynchus mykiss; Permeability; Printing; Rheological properties; Rheology; Salmon; Scaffolds; Scanning electron microscopy; Three dimensional printing; Trout
• ISSN: 1616-5187; 1616-5195
• DOI: 10.1002/mabi.202300016

To provide prominent accessibility of fishmeal to the European population, the currently available, time- and cost-extensive feeding trials, which evaluate fish feed, should be replaced. The current paper reports on the development of a novel 3D culture platform, mimicking the microenvironment of the intestinal mucosa in vitro. The key requirements of the model include sufficient permeability for nutrients and medium-size marker molecules (equilibrium within 24 h), suitable mechanical properties (G' < 10 kPa), and close morphological similarity to the intestinal architecture. To enable processability with light-based 3D printing, a gelatin-methacryloyl-aminoethyl-methacrylate-based biomaterial ink is developed and combined with Tween 20 as porogen to ensure sufficient permeability. To assess the permeability properties of the hydrogels, a static diffusion setup is utilized, indicating that the hydrogel constructs are permeable for a medium size marker molecule (FITC-dextran 4 kg mol ). Moreover, the mechanical evaluation through rheology evidence a physiologically relevant scaffold stiffness (G' = 4.83 ± 0.78 kPa). Digital light processing-based 3D printing of porogen-containing hydrogels results in the creation of constructs exhibiting a physiologically relevant microarchitecture as evidenced through cryo-scanning electron microscopy. Finally, the combination of the scaffolds with a novel rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) intestinal epithelial cell line (RTdi-MI) evidence scaffold biocompatibility.