Human stem cell based corneal tissue mimicking structures using laser-assisted 3D bioprinting and functional bioinks.
Authors
Sorkio A, Koch L, Koivusalo L, Deiwick A, Miettinen S, Chichkov B, Skottman H.
Institution
University of Tampere
Country
Finland
Year
2018
Journal
Biomaterials
Abstract
There is a high demand for developing methods to produce more native-like 3D corneal structures. In the present study, we produced 3D cornea-mimicking tissues using human stem cells and laser-assisted bioprinting (LaBP). Human embryonic stem cell derived limbal epithelial stem cells (hESC-LESC) were used as a cell source for printing epithelium-mimicking structures, whereas human adipose tissue derived stem cells (hASCs) were used for constructing layered stroma-mimicking structures. The development and optimization of functional bioinks was a crucial step towards successful bioprinting of 3D corneal structures. Recombinant human laminin and human sourced collagen I served as the bases for the functional bioinks. We used two previously established LaBP setups....