Automated construction system for the fine lattice shape structure using alginate gel fiber

The 3D tissue construction is one of the important issues for regenerative medicine. Recently, several studies have been reported, related to realize small size of 3D tissue like cells based structure in vitro. However, large size functional 3D tissue has not been achieved due to the size causing difficulties. In large size cells based structure, supplying oxygen and nutrients into the center part of the structure is prevented. In this case, cells at center part will die. In this paper, we propose an automated fine lattice shape structure construction system based on hydrogel fiber to produce active 3D tissues like structure. Several preliminary experiments were done to generate the suitable hydrogel fibers for our system. With respect to the experimental results, to evaluate the proposed system, the fine lattice structure was constructed as an example of 3D tissue form. Through the experiments of fine lattice shape structure construction, we observed the cell growth in the constructed lattice form, which proves the functionality of the structure. Furthermore, we designed the gel fiber discharge nozzle using laminar flow. Then, we confirmed that it is possible to form a thinner fiber in our system.