In the future, the small 3D bioprinter could be inserted into your body with an endoscope to print repairing tissue directly on the damage.
In recent years, 3D printers have outgrown plastic knick-knacks. The medical world in particular is fully committed to technology. The hope is to be able to use the devices, from which living material is increasingly being rolled out by now, in various areas in the future: from accelerated wound repair to (who knows ever) the printing of entire, functional organs.
A group of Chinese scientists presents in a professional journal Biofabrication a new method that allows them to print tissue directly onto an internal wound. Not by exposing the damage in question by means of an operation, and by taking the wound to the printer, as it were, but the other way around: the compact bioprinter enters the body.
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Stomach ulcer
In the study, the team initially focused on the treatment of damage to the stomach wall. About twelve percent of the world’s population suffers to a greater or lesser extent from these (usually) stomach ulcers, the researchers write.
Contact of the acidic gastric juice with the exposed nerves in the wall can cause severe pain. The main cause is the bacteria Helicobacter pylori. Some anti-inflammatory drugs may also be responsible.
Stomach ulcers are usually treated with antibiotics (if there is infection from them H. pylori has been shown) and antacids. By (temporarily) making the juice less acidic, the damage in the stomach wall can be repaired. In more severe cases, surgery is required.
Internal printing
The researchers saw room for improvement there. They believe that bioprinting – the application of new cells directly to the wound in order to repair the tissue (faster) – may be a useful addition. Unfortunately, current bioprinters are quite large and direct treatment is either superficial, or requires surgery.
To print directly on internal wounds without surgery, the researchers developed a printing microrobot. The 28 mm wide print bone can be inserted into the body with an endoscope tube. At the ‘entrance’ it is completely folded. Only when the printer arrives in the stomach does it unfold and put off its healing substance.
Model
These are the first steps, the researchers say. For the time being, they have only tested the system on a model of a human stomach. They also tested how well their ‘ink’ is able to print living cells and contribute to wound repair. Although both tests were “very promising”, a true peptic ulcer with the bone has not yet been treated.
The researchers are continuing to work hard. One of the most important points is to further reduce the size of the printer. Although smaller than its counterparts is 28mm, the researchers acknowledge, it is still a bit too large for smooth insertion through the ‘natural entrances’ into the body.
Sources: Biofabrication, EurekAlert!
Beeld: Zhao & Tu, 2020/Biofabrication
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