Biopolymer deposition for freeform fabrication of tissue engineered scaffolds

Polymeric scaffolds have been utilized in tissue engineering as a technique to confide the desired proliferation of seeded cells in vitro and in vivo into its architecturally porous three-dimensional structures. Novel freeform fabrication methods for tissue engineering polymeric scaffolds have been an interest because of its repeatability and capability of high accuracy in fabrication resolution at the macro and micro scales. A multi-nozzle biopolymer deposition system which is capable of extruding biopolymer solutions and living cells for freeform construction of 3D tissue scaffolds is presented. The deposition process is biocompatible and occurs at room temperature and low pressures to reduce damage to cells. This paper presents three types of nozzle systems that can be used to deposit sodium alginate using three-dimensional deposition (3D-D) to fabricate three-dimensional scaffold structures, in addition to cell/alginate deposition.