Abstract
As a milestone in soft and hard tissue engineering, a precise control
over the micropatterns of scaffolds have lightened new opportunities for
the recapitulation of native body organs through 3D bioprinting
approaches. Well-printable bioinks are pre-requisites for the
bioprinting of tissues/organs where hydrogels play a critical role.
Despite the outstanding developments in 3D engineered microstructures,
current printer devices, suffer from the risk of exposing loaded living
agents to mechanical (nozzle-based) and thermal (nozzle-free) stresses.
Thus, tuning the rheological, physical, and mechanical properties of
hydrogels are promising solutions to address these issues. The
relationship between the mechanical characteristics of hydrogels and
their printability is important to control printing quality and
fidelity. Recent developments in defining this relationship have
highlighted the decisive role of main additive manufacturing strategies.
These strategies are applied to enhance the printing quality of
scaffolds and determine the nurture of cellular morphology. In this
regard, it is beneficial to use external and internal stabilization,
photo curable biopolymers, and cooling substrates containing the printed
scaffolds. The objective of this study was to review cutting-edge
developments in hydrogel-type bioinks and discuss the optimum simulation
of the zonal stratification in osteochondral and cartilage units.