3D bioprinting is a revolutionary technology that allows the creation of living tissues and organs using a specialized printer. It involves the deposition of biomaterials and living cells layer by layer to create three-dimensional structures that mimic the function of natural tissues and organs.
As per Gizmochina, this technology has the potential to transform regenerative medicine, drug discovery, and personalized healthcare, but it also raises new ethical considerations about the creation of life-like structures. Now, researchers have made significant progress in 3D bioprinting that uses the technology for repairing or implanting medical devices.
Implanting Electronics Into Living Worms Using 3D Bioprinting
Scientists have achieved a breakthrough in the development of 3D printing technology by successfully creating flexible, conductive wires inside living organisms. John Hardy told New Scientist that it is hypothetically to print deep inside the tissue, which means that it is possible to print an object up to 10 cm into a human or larger organism.
He and his team at Lancaster University used laser-based 3D printing to produce star-shaped and square-shaped structures within the bodies of roundworm C. elegans.
The approach utilizes a high-resolution Nanoscribe 3D printer firing an infrared laser and a bespoke ink including the conducting polymer polypyrrole, Singularity Hub reported.
The team first printed circuits into a polymer scaffold and then placed the scaffold on the top of a slice of mouse brain tissue and then passed a current through the flexible electronic circuit which produced the expected response in the mouse brain cells.
The researchers then embedded the ink in microbes that the worms were fed with to ensure non-toxicity; then once the microbes had been ingested, they were put under the Nanoscribe printer.
The team was able to create square- and star-shaped structures within the worms' skins and guts. While the shapes printed inside the worms' bodies had no functionality, the work offers the promise of one day enabling electronics to be built alongside living tissue.
Significance of 3D Bioprinting Inside a Live Tissue
It has been suggested that new technology could make it possible in the future to build electronics entwined with living tissue. The approach is seen to represent progress in the production of new advances in the health and medical sectors. However, considerable work remains to be done to make it workable for human beings.
Much of the significance of this technology is due to the potential for building electronics intertwined with living tissue in health and medical applications.
This research opens a new door to the field and represents a step toward discoveries. Despite their achievement of printing conductive electronic circuits inside a living organism, much work needs to be done to make the technology applicable to human beings.
The study is currently in progress, according to AZO Materials. Researchers plan to add new steps that focus on determining the types of structures and materials that can be printed, as well as creating prototypes to attract potential co-developers interested in the technology. It is expected to take another 10-15 years for the technology to reach its full potential.
The paper, titled "Creating 3D Objects with Integrated Electronics via Multiphoton Fabrication In Vitro and In Vivo," is published in Advanced Materials Technology
RELATED ARTICLE: 3D Printing in Medicine: Bioprinting Will Be Available in a Decade, Probably Cheaper Than Costs Associated With Organ Failure
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