A 3D-printed micro-perfused culture device with embedded 3D fibrous scaffold for enhanced biomimicry

Additive manufacturing has rapidly revolutionized the medical sectors since it is a versatile, cost-effective, assembly free technique with the ability to replicate geometrically complicated features. Some of the widely reported applications include the printing of scaffolds, implants, or microfluidic devices. In this study, a 3D-printed micro-per fused culture (MPC) device embedded with a nanofibrous scaffold was designed to create an integrated micro-per fused 3D cell culture environment for living cells. The addition of 3D fibrous scaffold onto the microfluidic chip was to provide a more physiologically relevant microenvironment for cell culture studies. Stereolithography was adopted in this study as this technique obviates excessive preassembly and bonding steps, which would otherwise be needed in conventional microfluidic fabrication. Huh7.5 hepatocellular carcinoma cells were used as model cells for this platform since liver cells experience similar perfused microenvironment. Preliminary cell studies revealed that gene expressions of albumin (ALB) and cytochrome P450 isoform (CYP3A7) were found to be significantly upregulated on the 3D-printed MPC device as compared to the static counterpart. Taken together, the 3D-printed MPC device is shown to be a physiologically relevant platform for the maintenance of liver cells. The device and printing technique developed in this study is highly versatile and tailorable to mimic local in vivo microenvironment needs of various tissues, which could be studied in future.