Physical Models from Physical Templates Using Biocompatible Liquid Crystal Elastomers as Morphologically Programmable Inks For 3d Printing.

Advanced manufacturing has received considerable attention as a tool for the fabrication of cell scaffolds however, finding ideal biocompatible and biodegradable materials that fit the correct parameters for three-dimensional (3D) printing and guide cells to align remain a challenge. Herein, w e present a photocrosslinkable smectic-A (Sm-A) liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) designed for 3D printing, that promotes cell proliferation but most importantly induces cell anisotropy. O ur LCE-based bio-ink allows the 3D duplication of a highly complex brain structure generated from an animal model. Vascular tissue models w ere generated from fluorescently stained mouse tissue spatially imaged using confocal microscopy and subsequently processed to create a digital 3D model suitable for printing. The 3D structure w as reproduced using a Digital Light Processing (DLP) stereolithography (SLA) desktop 3D printer. Synchrotron Small-Angle X-ray Diffraction (SAXD) data reveal a strong alignment of the LCE layering within the struts of the printed 3D scaffold. The resultant anisotropy of the LCE struts w as then shown to direct cell growth. This study offers a simple approach to produce model tissues built within hours that promote cellular alignment. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.