An electrohydrodynamic printer for alginate hydrogels containing living cells.

In this work we present a bioprinting technique that exploits the electrohydrodynamic process to obtain a jet of liquid alginate beads containing cells. A printer is used to microfabricate hydrogels block by block following a bottom-up approach. Alginate beads constitute the building blocks of the microfabricated structures. The beads are placed at predefined position on a target substrate made of calcium-enriched gelatin, where they crosslink upon contact without the need of further postprocessing. The printed sample can be easily removed from the substrate at physiological temperature. Three-dimensional printing is accomplished by the deposition of multiple layers of hydrogel. We have investigated the parameters influencing the process, the compatibility of the printing procedure with cells, and their survival after printing.