Complicated vessels pervade almost all body tissues and influence the pathophysiology of the human body significantly. However, current fabrication strategies have limited success at multiscale vascular biofabrication. This study reports a methodology to fabricate soft vascularized tissue at centimeter scale using multimaterial bioprinting by a customized multistage-temperature-control printer. The printed constructs can be perfused via the branched endothelialized vasculatures to support the well-formed 3D capillary networks, which ensure cellular activities with sufficient nutrient supply and then mimic a mature and functional liver tissue in terms of synthesis of liver-specific proteins. Moreover, an inner and external pressure-bearing layer is printed to support the direct surgical anastomosis of the carotid artery to the jugular vein. In summary, a versatile platform to recapitulate the vasculature network is presented, in which case sustaining the optimal cellularization in engineered tissues is achievable.
Keywords: 3D bioprinting; liver tissue; perfusion; transplantation; vascularization.
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