Novel 3D-Printed Device for the Simple Preparation of Hydrogel Beads

作者：Rahman Kazi Anisur; Sathi Gulsan Ara; Taketa Hiroaki; Farahat Mahmoud; Okada Masahiro; Torii Yasuhiro; Matsumoto Takuya^*

来源：3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing, 2015, 2(1): 5-11.

DOI：10.1089/3dp.2014.0023

Encapsulation of cells in biocompatible polymers such as naturally derived hydrogels is an important technology that is used for cell therapy and tissue engineering. Herein, we introduce a simple and novel 3D-printed device to prepare hydrogel beads. The device is composed of a cylindrical tube with 1 inlet and 16 outlets. For the hydrogel solution, a low-melting-point agarose solution and sodium alginate are used. At a solution flow rate of 250 mu L/min and a stir speed of 500, 1000, or 1250 rpm, the device produced beads of diameters 50-100, 30-60, and 5-30 mu m, respectively. When the device was run at a flow rate of 500 mu L/min at the above-mentioned stir speeds, the bead diameters were 100-150, 60-90, and 30-60 mu m, respectively. Thus, this device can produce hydrogel beads of different sizes by altering the stir speed or the solution flow rate. In addition, we demonstrated that encapsulated MC3T3-E1 cells can survive and proliferate in the fabricated hydrogel when type I collagen is added to the gel solution. The simplicity of its design would make this device a valuable tool for rapid fabrication of cell encapsulated hydrogels.

• 出版日期2015-3