3D bioprinting is a technology that mixes bioinks with living cells to print natural tissue-like structures. This new technology provides the most human-like skin model for studying inflammatory conditions, such as eczema.
The 3D bioprinter uses human cells as bioinks, which act like ink from a printer ink cartridge.
Researchers have used many types of cells in the process, including melanocytes, which form skin pigment; keratinocytes, which allow for skin renewal; and fibroblasts, which form connective tissue.
These cells are printed in layers, and then put into an incubator where the cells can communicate with each other, expand and form bioprinted skin.
Research to increase understanding of eczema and advance new therapies for this condition has previously been limited by a lack of preclinical models that accurately simulate human disease.
Dr Saranya Wyles, M.D, Ph.D, a dermatologist and senior lead of the research, said: “3D bioprinting brings new options. It can create human equivalents that are truer and more representative of the disease, unlike the animal models we have worked with in the past.
“Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine has the potential to transform clinical and laboratory practice, as this 3D model more accurately recreates disease, creates surgical grafts and provides the ability to test new therapies.”
The research team, including collaborator Alexander Revzin, Ph.D, hope to replicate inflammatory skin conditions using cells of people with eczema to 3D bioprint skin. Topical and injectable regenerative therapies such as exosome technology will then be tested on the bioprinted skin, with the aim to understand and better their effects.
Dr Wyles also uses the prototype 3D models to better understand, on a molecular level, the role of senescent cells in age-related skin conditions. Also called zombie cells, senescent cells no longer divide and multiply, and therefore are not able to heal and repair tissue. The research thus aims to also develop new therapies to address skin ageing.
Mayo Clinic said research is needed to bioprint an exact replica of human skin with eczema. Future studies will explore 3D bioprinting of full skin thickness with an emphasis on attaining the full features of patient-specific skin.
Mayo Clinic's Center for Regenerative Biotherapeutics has supported the research, with the Skoll Foundation providing the funding.
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