Reactive Jet Impingement Process Capabilities for 3D Bioprinting

<p dir="ltr">Data underpinning the paper "Print resolution in the reactive jet impingement 3D bioprinting system".</p><p dir="ltr">Abstract from the paper below.</p><p dir="ltr">Reactive jet impingement is a 3D bioprinting process which forms hydrogels through reacting droplet streams of polymer and crosslinker solutions, with the capability to produce cell filled hydrogels through suspending cells in the starting solutions. The process offers unique capabilities for the creation of 3D cell cultures in vitro, offering a drop on demand, high cell density process which can deposit cells onto a wide range of substrates. This study has evaluated for the first time the relationship between the print resolution of the hydrogels with the viscosity and the surface tension of the starting solutions. Calcium chloride, sodium alginate, thrombin, and fibrinogen solutions have been characterised together with two blended solutions: collagen-alginate-fibrin and thrombin-calcium chloride, which combine to create a composite collagen-alginate-fibrin hydrogel. The influence of cells on bio-ink behaviour has been assessed through suspending TC28a chondrocytes within the thrombin-calcium chloride solution. For the materials studied, viscosity was a greater differentiator in print performance than surface tension, and there is a clear relationship between droplet volume and kinematic viscosity measured at high strain rates (1000 s^-1). The addition of cells had a minimal effect on the kinematic viscosity of the solutions at high strain rates and the effect on droplet volume was subsequently small. Cell viability was high across all processing conditions used. Overall, the reactive jet impingement process is a reliable and accurate process to produce high cell density hydrogels, and the kinematic viscosity at high strain rates is the key fluid property in defining print resolution. </p>