3D bioprinting of nanoparticle-laden hydrogel scaffolds with enhanced antibacterial and imaging properties

Biomaterial-associated microbial contaminations in biologically conducive three-dimensional (3D) tissue-engineered constructs have significantly limited the clinical applications of scaffold systems. To prevent such infections, antimicrobial biomaterials are rapidly evolving. Yet, the use of such materials in bioprinting-based approaches of scaffold fabrication has not been examined. This study intro-duces a new generation of bacteriostatic gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA)-based bioinks, incorporated with varying doses of antibacterial superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs). The SPION-laden GelMA scaffolds showed significant resistance against the Staphylococcus aureus growth, while providing a contrast in magnetic resonance imaging. We simulated the bacterial contamina-tion of cellular 3D GelMA scaffolds in vitro and demonstrated the significant ef-fect of functionalized scaffolds in inhibiting bacterial growth, while maintaining cell viability and growth. Together, these results present a new promising class of functionalized bioinks to 3D bioprint tissue-engineered scaffold with markedly enhanced properties for the use in a variety of in vitro and clinical applications.

Automated summary

This study introduces a new generation of antibacterial bioinks for 3D bioprinting, incorporating superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) into gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) scaffolds. The SPION-laden GelMA scaffolds demonstrated significant resistance against Staphylococcus aureus growth, while providing contrast in magnetic resonance imaging. The functionalized scaffolds were able to inhibit bacterial growth while maintaining cell viability and growth.