Development and characterization of a photocurable alginate bioink for three-dimensional bioprinting

H H Mishbak; Glen Cooper; P J Bartolo

doi:10.18063/ijb.v5i2.189

Development and characterization of a photocurable alginate bioink for three-dimensional bioprinting

Int J Bioprint. 2019 Jul 1;5(2):189. doi: 10.18063/ijb.v5i2.189. eCollection 2019.

Authors

H H Mishbak^{1

2}, Glen Cooper², P J Bartolo²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Thi-Qar. Thi-Qar, Iraq.
² Manufacturing Group, School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.

Abstract

Alginate is a biocompatible material suitable for biomedical applications, which can be processed under mild conditions on irradiation. This paper investigates the preparation and the rheological behavior of different pre-polymerized and polymerized alginate methacrylate systems for three-dimensional photopolymerization bioprinting. The effect of the functionalization time on the mechanical, morphological, swelling, and degradation characteristics of cross-linked alginate hydrogel is also discussed. Alginate was chemically-modified with methacrylate groups and different reaction times considered. Photocurable alginate systems were prepared by dissolving functionalized alginate with 0.5- 1.5% w/v photoinitiator solutions and cross-linked by ultraviolet light (8 mW/cm² for 8 minutes).

Keywords: 3D bioprinting; Alginate hydrogel; Functionalization; Photopolymerization; Rheology.