A human body consists of fibrous proteins tasked with providing structural support for cells and tissues while helping biomechanics. Around 80% of human skin and 10% of muscle is made from collagen. Fibrinogen helps in reducing blood clotting by forming hydrogen fibrin. These proteins form a thin solid layer on the surface of an aqueous solution, just like the skin that comes on warm milk. Recent research shows that this new development may lead to more efficient tissue engineering and bioprinting. Researchers have brought forward several new aspects in their report that may lead to technological development in the Tissue Engineering Market. The team has found ways with which rheology measurements can be made accurate while also identifying the concentrations of protein solutions, which are possibly printable via inkjet bioprinting. The research also identifies bioprinting operating parameters.
Usage of Collagen and fibrinogen is quite popular in tissue engineering applications. They are used to make the foundation of collagen and fibrin hydrogels essential to such applications. Both proteins are advantageous as structural materials in tissue engineering as they are non-toxic and biodegradable and copy the natural microenvironment of a cell.
Researchers, for the first time, have brought forward that fibrous proteins make a solid layer on the surface of the water because of the collection of proteins at the water/air interface. The solid layer made by taking accurate measurements of the solution’s rheology is quite challenging. The measures taken must be accurate as they are crucial for successful bioprinting. Viscosity measurement is necessary for the identification of such protein solutions that are potentially printable. They are also helpful in detecting inconsistencies in the flow behavior of various batches of fibrous proteins.
Fibrinogen and Collagen are obtained from animals. Hence, their flow behavior changes with every batch and with time-This, in turn creates a challenge of consistent bioprinting results. If accurate measurements of flow behavior are taken, it will make more reliable and consistent delivery of protein solutions. This helps in the production of reliable disease models and organ-on-chip devices.
As per researchers, a viable solution for obtaining accurate measurement can be made by adding a surfactant such as a polysorbate 80 to restrict film formation at the air/water interface.
The team also produced other findings in their research and will likely to invest their time in further investigation-This includes the probability that aggregated fibrous proteins at the air/water interface get released from the interface and may cause further accumulation of the solutions' proteins. As a result, the bulk aggregation may be the reason for poor alignment of collagen fibers or low mechanical strength of fibrin outside the body, i.e., in vitro. This is the main obstacle within tissue engineering applications at present, and the researchers might take a step in solving this problem.