They can be used both as culture model systems, to investigate in vitro cell/tissue development and the effects of chemicophysical stimuli on tissue maturation, or as production systems, for finally directing stem cell fate and engineered tissue formation in vitro. In particular, bioreactors are designed to culture cells/tissues in a three-dimensional (3D) environment, under monitored and controlled conditions (e.g., pH, O 2, glucose, and lactate) and user-defined physical stimuli (e.g., stretching, compression, electrical pulse, and fluid shear stress). In this perspective, bioreactors are innovative and technological devices appositely engineered for providing in vivo-like culture conditions, by coping with limitations of conventional two-dimensional, static, and manual cell/tissue cultures. Numerous mechanobiology studies demonstrated that, in addition to cells, biomaterials, and chemical signals, physical stimuli play a fundamental role during the development of native tissues and for the generation of tissue engineered substitutes. The three main components for in vitro tissue development are as follows: (1) cells, responsible for new tissue synthesis (2) scaffolds, providing physical and structural support and biochemical cues for cells and (3) biomimetic in vitro culture environment, for replicating the in vivo milieu and signals. Tissue engineering aims to generate in vitro functional biomimetic substitutes to repair or replace damaged biological tissues and organs. Based on 3D printing, the bioreactor optimization was completely performed in-house, from design to fabrication, enabling customization freedom, strict design-to-prototype timing, and cost and time effective testing, finally boosting the bioreactor development process.
All the components showed suitable performances in terms of design, ease of use, and functionality. Moreover, tensile tests and finite element analysis were performed to investigate the gripping performance of the sample holder prototypes. The manufactured components were tested in-house and in a cell biology laboratory.
Innovative sample holder prototypes were specifically designed and 3D-printed for holding thin and soft biological samples during cyclic stretch culture. The culture chamber housing and the motor housing were developed as functional permanent parts, aimed at fixing the culture chamber position and at guaranteeing motor watertightness, respectively. In this work, 3D printing was applied for the in-house production of customized components of a mechanical stretching bioreactor with potential application for cardiac tissue engineering and mechanobiology studies. Three-dimensional (3D) printing represents a key technology for rapid prototyping, allowing easy, rapid, and low-cost fabrication.
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