Polymers

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Insup Noh

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Guest Editor

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Seoul 01881, Korea
Interests: hydrogel biomaterials; tissue engineering; 3D printing biomaterials; biomaterials; hydrogel; 3D bioprinting materials; biomolecules delivery

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Hydrogels receive a great amount of interest in scientific advancements and their applications in the areas of 3D bioprinting and tissue engineering, therapeutics, and cell delivery. Hydrogel materials for 3D bioprinting, bio-inks, and tissue engineering have been developed and commercialized to their specific applications in accordance with the advancement of information technology, such as the 3D printing industry and soft robots. Examples of 3D printing in tissue engineering are blood vessel, bone, skin, bladder, cartilage, meniscus, and many other complex organs and tissues. Both synthetic and natural polymers, including their hybrid forms with ceramics, nano–microparticles, and fibers have been employed in 3D forms with (stem) cells for tissue engineering. 3D hydrogels either contain cells (bio-inks) or do not contain cells for their applications in tissue engineering, and diverse cells could be employed for different tissues and organ regeneration.

Even though there has been significant development in functional hydrogels for 3D printing and tissue engineering, it is very important both to synthesize novel functional hydrogels and to control their properties during biomimetic printing of tissue/organ structures. Development of novel 3D printing hydrogels could help to obtain diverse synthetic and natural polymers. The required hydrogel properties could be biocompatibility, 3D printability, post-printing morphological stability, cell encapsulation/viability, and tissue regeneration of the hydrogels for the success of tissue/organ engineering.

This Special Issue on hydrogels for 3D bioprinting and (bio-ink) tissue engineering aims to cover all aspects of the aforementioned subjects, including, for instance, the synthesis and characterizations of novel 3D printing biomaterials, self-healing gels, self-assembling hydrogels, biomimetic gels, delivery of bioactive molecules in/from 3D printing gels, in vitro/in vivo tissue regeneration of hydrogels, control of hydrogels and processing for 3D (bio)printing, and applications of 3D bioprinting gels to diverse tissues and organs such as bone, cartilage, blood vessels, skin, and others in all the related fields mentioned in the keywords.

This Special Issue welcomes reports on recent findings and reviews from experts in this frontier sector.

Prof. Insup Noh
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

3D (bio)printing
Bio-inks
Hydrogel
Biocompatibility
Cell (viability)
3D bioprinters
Printable polymers
Hybrid gel
Post-printing stability
Bioactive molecules
Tissue regeneration
Organs
Biomimetics

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 3524 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Thermo-Responsive Antimicrobial Hydrogel for the In-Situ Coating of Mesh Materials for Hernia Repair

by Bárbara Pérez-Köhler, Gemma Pascual, Selma Benito-Martínez, Juan Manuel Bellón, David Eglin and Olivier Guillaume

Polymers 2020, 12(6), 1245; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12061245 - 29 May 2020

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 2801

Abstract

The prophylactic coating of prosthetic mesh materials for hernia repair with antimicrobial compounds is commonly performed before implantation of the mesh in the abdominal wall. We propose a novel alternative, which is a rifampicin-loaded thermo-responsive hydrogel formulation, to be applied on the mesh after its implantation. This formulation becomes a gel in-situ once reached body temperature, allowing an optimal coating of the mesh along with the surrounding tissues. In vitro, the hydrogel cytotoxicity was assessed using rabbit fibroblasts and antimicrobial efficacy was determined against Staphylococcus aureus. An in vivo rabbit model of hernia repair was performed; implanted polypropylene meshes (5 × 2 cm) were challenged with S. aureus (10⁶ CFU), for two study groups—unloaded (n = 4) and 0.1 mg/cm² rifampicin-loaded hydrogel (n = 8). In vitro, antibacterial activity of the hydrogel lasted for 5 days, without sign of cytotoxicity. Fourteen days after implantation, meshes coated with drug-free hydrogel developed a strong infection and resulted in poor tissue integration. Coating meshes with the rifampicin-loaded hydrogel fully prevented implant infection and permitted an optimal tissue integration. Due to its great performance, this, degradable, thermo-responsive antimicrobial hydrogel could potentially be a strong prophylactic armamentarium to be combined with prosthesis in the surgical field. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hydrogels for 3D Bioprinting and Tissue Engineering)

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Graphical abstract

Review

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18 pages, 1245 KiB

Open AccessReview

3D Bioprinting of In Vitro Models Using Hydrogel-Based Bioinks

by Yeong-Jin Choi, Honghyun Park, Dong-Heon Ha, Hui-Suk Yun, Hee-Gyeong Yi and Hyungseok Lee

Polymers 2021, 13(3), 366; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13030366 - 24 Jan 2021

Cited by 48 | Viewed by 6603

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which has recently emerged as a global pandemic, has caused a serious economic crisis due to the social disconnection and physical distancing in human society. To rapidly respond to the emergence of new diseases, a reliable in vitro model needs to be established expeditiously for the identification of appropriate therapeutic agents. Such models can be of great help in validating the pathological behavior of pathogens and therapeutic agents. Recently, in vitro models representing human organs and tissues and biological functions have been developed based on high-precision 3D bioprinting. In this paper, we delineate an in-depth assessment of the recently developed 3D bioprinting technology and bioinks. In particular, we discuss the latest achievements and future aspects of the use of 3D bioprinting for in vitro modeling. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hydrogels for 3D Bioprinting and Tissue Engineering)

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