Indian researchers develop 3D bio printed cartilage

•  Indian researchers have been able to achieve a measure of success in developing cartilages that are molecularly similar to the ones seen in human knees. Scientists have printed cartilage using bioink.
• The bioink has high concentration of bone-marrow derived cartilage stem cells, silk proteins and a few factors.
• The chemical composition of the bioink supports cell growth and long-term survival of the cells. The cartilage developed in the lab has remained physically stable for up to six weeks. The results of the study were published in the journal Bio printing.
• The silk protein has different amino acids that closely resemble the amino acids present in human tissues. Just like cells are surrounded by proteins inside our body, the cells in the engineered cartilage are also surrounded by bio ink that has a similar composition.
• Cartilage found in the knee is an articular cartilage that is typically sponge-like and has a huge load-bearing capacity, the ones produced in the lab so far are of a different kind — transient cartilage.
• Unlike articular cartilage, transient cartilage becomes bone cells and, therefore, brittle within a short time.
• As a result, the engineered cartilage loses its capacity to bear huge load that is typically encountered in the knee.
• But the 3D bio printing approach adopted by the team allows the high concentration of bone-marrow derived cartilage stem cells present in the bio ink to gradually convert to chondrocyte-like cells (specialised cells which produce and maintain the extracellular matrix of cartilage).

Analysis:

• 3D printing or additive manufacturing is a process of making three-dimensional solid objects from a digital file. The creation of a 3D printed object is achieved using additive processes. In an additive process an object is created by laying down successive layers of material until the entire object is created. Each of these layers can be seen as a thinly sliced horizontal cross-section of the eventual object.
• 3D printing has been used to create car parts, smartphone cases, fashion accessories, medical equipment and artificial organs. Charles “Chuck” Hull created the first functional 3D printer in 1984 and the technology has come a long way ever since then.
• Manufacturing corporations and aerospace organizations have saved billions of dollars by using 3D printing for building parts.
• 3D printing has also helped save lives. 3D printing has been applied in medicine since the early 2000s, when the technology was first used to make dental implants and custom prosthetics. Since then, the medical applications for 3D printing have evolved considerably. Recently there is use of 3D printing to produce bones, ears, exoskeletons, windpipes, a jaw bone, eyeglasses, cell cultures, stem cells, blood vessels, vascular networks, tissues, and organs, as well as novel dosage forms and drug delivery devices. The current medical uses of 3D printing can be organized into several broad categories: tissue and organ fabrication; creating prosthetics, implants, and anatomical models; and pharmaceutical research concerning drug discovery, delivery, and dosage forms.

By: Vishal