AccScience Publishing / IJB / Volume 9 / Issue 6 / DOI: 10.36922/ijb.0012
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REVIEW

3D bioprinting for vascular grafts and microvasculature

Junpeng Zhu1 ,  Xinwang Wang2 ,  Lin Lin1 ,  Wen Zeng1,3,4*
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1 Department of Cell Biology, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, Troops 69250 of the PLA, Urumqi, China
2 State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burn and Combined Injury, Chongqing, China
3 Jinfeng Laboratory, Chongqing 401329, China
IJB 2023, 9(6), 0012 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijb.0012
Submitted: 12 May 2023 | Accepted: 1 July 2023 | Published: 2 August 2023
(This article belongs to the Special Issue 3D printing for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine)
© 2023 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Cardiovascular disease is the world’s leading cause of death, and there is a substantial clinical need for transplantable blood vessels. Through tissue vascular engineering technology, large blood vessel grafts with significant clinical effects have been synthesized. However, synthesizing vascular valves, small vessels up to 6 mm in diameter, and capillary networks up to 500 μm in diameter remains challenging due to the lack of precise manufacturing techniques. In particular, constructing a microvascular network in thick tissue is the technical bottleneck of organ transplantation. Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting is a computer-assisted layer-by-layer deposition method that can deposit cells and biomaterials at a predetermined location, according to an accurate digital 3D model, to build a delicate and complex bionic structure. This review discusses the progress and limitations of 3D bioprinting in preparing large vessels and valves, small-diameter vessels, and microvascular networks. This paper focuses on improved printing technology and innovative bio-ink materials. The future application of 3D bioprinting is prospected in generating artificial blood vessel grafts and vascularized organs with full biological function.  

Keywords
3D bioprinting
Small-diameter vessels
Microvasculature
Funding
This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Plan Young Scientists Program (No. 2021YFA1102100), the National Defense Fund for Outstanding Scholars (No. 2021‐JCJQ‐Z0‐003), the Chongqing Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (No. cstc2020jcyj‐jqX0023), and the Chongqing University Innovation Research Group Project (No. CXQT21010). Figures were made with Adobe Illustrator 2021.
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Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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International Journal of Bioprinting, Electronic ISSN: 2424-8002 Print ISSN: 2424-7723, Published by AccScience Publishing
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