Progress in three-dimensional (3D) printing of artificial organs

Abstract

Three dimensional (3D) printing is a hot topic in today's scientific research and commercial areas. It is recognized as the third industry revolution or new breakthrough of manufacture. Human organ printing has been put forward into equity market as a concept stock and attracted a lot of attention. However, organ printing is still in its infancy and a lot of work needs to be done. Especially, complex organ printing encounters enormous difficulties and challenges. Main two of them are rapidly construction of branched vascular and nerve systems. Recently, a large number of outstanding scientists flung them into this area, and have made some headways in nearly every human organs, such as the bone, kidney, liver, heart, and brain. Some novel achievements in the large bone repair material, blood vessel and vascular network, artificial liver and vascular adipose tissue printing fields are introduced for reference.