3D Bioprinting Human Blood Vessel Using a Collagen Bioink to Optimize Growth Conditions of Two Primary Cell Lines of HUVEC and HASMC

Traditional vein grafts are a complicated surgery as doctors should deeply cut a patient’s legs and neck to harvest a vein, which puts patients at risk of additional traumatic surgery. Therefore, creating a personalized vein using their body cells is essential. This research will create a simulated blood vein using collagen bioink as a scaffold for cell growth. Collagen (i.e., an abundant protein) is the main structural element of the Extracellular Matrix (ECM) found in the vessel wall. Collagen provides a support structure with a tensile strength that controls the cell growth direction as cells adhere and elongate. Our preliminary study showed collagen bioink does not lose its structural integrity when submerged in DMEM (Dulbecco′s Modified Eagle′s Medium) cell media. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and Human Aortic Smooth Muscle Cells (HASMC) are two primary cell lines used in blood vessel research. The HUVEC and HASMC will be co-cultured, mixed with collagen-based bioink, and printed in a tube-like arrangement to simulate the geometry of an actual blood vessel. A step-by-step procedure for cell co-culturing on a 3D-printed scaffold with the collagen bioink is being developed. The two cell lines' attachment, viability, and proliferation are examined using fluorescence and scanning electron microscopy.