Vascular Tissue Engineering: The Role of 3D Bioprinting

Abstract

Blood vessels are essential in transporting nutrients to and wastes from all tissues and therefore play critical roles in maintaining the homeostasis of the human system. However, blood vessels may be subjected to unwanted damages causing their malfunctions. Alternatively, tissues can suffer from injuries and diseases, leading to their deterioration. In either case, the regeneration of blood vessels is desired prompting the need for better strategies in vascular tissue engineering. To this end, three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting as a recently emerging and enabling technology has allowed for convenient generation of stand-alone blood vessel substitutes and functional vascular networks within tissue constructs at unprecedented controllability. In this chapter, we seek to provide an overview of the various 3D bioprinting strategies that have been applied to vascular tissue engineering with different degrees of success. We first discuss the different types of bioprinting modalities, followed by descriptions of several bioprinting strategies that have been commonly used for vascular tissue engineering, including sacrificial bioprinting, embedded extrusion bioprinting, hollow fiber bioprinting, and stereolithographic bioprinting.