Ribbon-shaped microgels as bioinks for 3D bioprinting of anisotropic tissue structures.

ABSTRACT: Granular microgels are attractive bioinks for bioprinting due to their injectability, printability, modularity, and enhanced macroporosity compared to conventional nanoporous hydrogels. Despite the potential of microgels for bioprinting, most previous work has relied on spherical microgels and produced isotropic tissues, whereas many native tissues are inherently anisotropic. While emerging studies have explored non-spherical microgels for bioprinting, there remains a need for bioinks that support cell alignment and tunable niche cues. Microribbons (μRB) are anisotropic ribbon-shaped microgels, but the potential of μRBs as bioinks for printing 3D anisotropic tissues remains unexplored. Here, we report the development of μRBs with tunable stiffness as bioinks for extrusion-based bioprinting

SUBMITTER: Lee HP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12810552 | biostudies-literature | 2026 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature