Perfusive and osmotic capabilities of 3D printed hollow tube for fabricating large-scaled muscle scaffold

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a new method for the fabrication of a large-scaled muscle scaffold containing an artificial hollow tube network, which may solve the problems of nutrient supply, oxygen exchange and metabolic waste removal. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, a ferric chloride structural strength-enhanced sodium alginate hollow tube was used to build the hollow tube network. Gelatin infill was then added to make a large alginate/gelation gel soft tissue scaffold. A pilot experiment was performed and an osmotic test platform was built to study the perfusion and osmotic ability of the 3D printed hollow tube. The essential fabrication parameters (printing velocity and gap) for building the vascular (i.e., hollow tube) network-contained scaffold were investigated. Moreover, cells in culture were spread within the gelation scaffold, and the circulation characteristics of the hollow tube network were studied. Findings: The printed large-scaled scaffold that contained a ferric chloride structural strength-enhanced sodium alginate hollow tube had good perfusion ability. The osmotic distance of the hollow tube reached 3.7 mm in 8 h in this experiment. Research limitations/implications: The osmotic distance was confirmed by perfusing a phenol solution; although it is more reliable to test for cell viability, this will be investigated in our later research. Practical implications: This research may provide new insights in the area of tissue engineering for large-scaled vascularized scaffold fabrication. Originality/value: This paper presents a new method for fabricating large-scaled scaffolds, and the perfusion ability and osmotic distance of a ferric chloride structural strength-enhanced sodium alginate hollow tube are shown.