review · Carbohydrate Polymers
Polysaccharide hydrogels have become vital bioinks in three-dimensional bioprinting due to their capacity to emulate the natural extracellular matrix. These materials display favourable physicochemical and biological traits that promote cellular adhesion, growth, and differentiation. An evaluation of the field outlines manufacturing processes, carbohydrate chemistry, bioink formulation, and hydrogel characterisation. Key biomedical uses include drug delivery systems designed for targeted treatment and controlled release kinetics, alongside tissue engineering constructs created to regenerate skin, bone, cartilage, and vascular structures. Additional areas of use feature disease modelling and pharmaceutical screening. However, widespread deployment faces persistent technical obstacles. These include difficulties in adjusting polysaccharide chemistry and characteristics, improving printability alongside mechanical robustness, and securing long-term functional stability when deployed within living systems.
Three-dimensional bioprinting offers new ways to treat injuries and test medicines by building living tissues layer by layer. Polysaccharide hydrogels provide a biocompatible structure that closely mirrors human tissue environments. Understanding how to refine these bioinks can accelerate the creation of laboratory-grown tissues, advanced drug screening platforms, and improved implants for patients needing bone, skin, or cartilage repair.
The work points towards commercial uses in targeted drug delivery systems, pharmaceutical screening platforms, and medical implants for cartilage, bone, skin, and vascular repair. Potential users include pharmaceutical developers, biotechnology companies, and tissue engineering specialists. The underlying technologies appear to span early-stage research and applied testing, as real-world clinical and market translation remains constrained by bioink printability limits, mechanical weaknesses, and uncertain long-term in vivo stability.
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Polysaccharide hydrogels, which can mimic the natural extracellular matrix and possess appealing physicochemical and biological characteristics, have emerged as significant bioinks for 3D bioprinting. They are highly promising for applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine because of their ability to enhance cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation in a manner akin to the natural cellular environment. This review comprehensively examines the fabrication methods, characteristics, and applications of polysaccharide hydrogel-driven 3D bioprinting, underscoring its potential in tissue engineering, drug delivery, and regenerative medicine. To contribute pertinent knowledge for future research in this field, this review critically examines key aspects, including the chemistry of carbohydrates, manufacturing techniques, formulation of bioinks, and characterization of polysaccharide-based hydrogels. Furthermore, this review explores the primary advancements and applications of 3D-printed polysaccharide hydrogels, encompassing drug delivery systems with controlled release kinetics and targeted therapy, along with tissue-engineered constructs for bone, cartilage, skin, and vascular regeneration. The use of these 3D bioprinted hydrogels in innovative research fields, including disease modeling and drug screening, is also addressed. Despite notable progress, challenges, including modulating the chemistry and properties of polysaccharides, enhancing bioink printability and mechanical properties, and achieving long-term in vivo stability, have been highlighted.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2024.122845
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