3D printing has opened doors that we did not even know could be opened. Thanks to it we can build houses in a very short time, create our miniatures with FDM or resin printers, print prostheses, create parts in space… and help repair damaged organs.
This is possible thanks to the fact that there are printers that can carry out the process with materials that the body does not reject, and now they have just demonstrated it at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University.
Until now, it had been possible to print 3D hearts using silicone, and even a patient’s own cells, but it was not possible to simulate the real functioning of the heart. What a team at Harvard’s Wyss Institute has done is create a technique to 3D print long cardiac macrofilaments, much like contracting muscles, in a way that can better mimic the complex alignment of a heart’s contracting elements. .
With the new 3D printing technique, it is possible to produce tissue thick enough to be used in regenerative cardiac treatments.
They have not started from scratch, they have studied an existing SWIFT (Sacrificial Writing in Functional Tissue) bioprinting technology, to create a platform with 1,050 holes, then filled them with stem cells capable of developing into multiple forms, used collagen protein and ended up creating the right fabric.
After that process, they create the bioprinting ink, and use the motion of the 3D printer head to further help with alignment.
At the moment they have only managed to print a small part of the heart, there is a long way to go to have a fully functional heart, but they have made it clear that it is possible, which could revolutionize the world of organ transplants in a few years.
For now, the 3D-printed filaments could be used to replace scars after heart attacks, repair holes in newborns, or create improved models of disease.
