In vitro colon models have many applications like drug screening, understanding the cellular mechanisms, and drug permeability testing for orally administered drugs. Traditional 2D in vitro cultures lack the complex architecture of the gastrointestinal tract, which makes them a poor model of the in vivo microenvironment. Also, in the past decade the diseases and conditions related to the gut have been increased. This poses a need for a better understanding of these conditions resulting in better therapies. To create a better 3D models, we have developed a technique based on screen printing which uses a mixture of cells, components of a chemically crosslinking hydrogel and extracellular matrix as the bioink to construct 3D hydrogel structures for the cells to grow. The screen printing process is inspired from the traditional screen printing technique, which makes it a cost effective way to print multiple patterns of hydrogel scaffolds for cells to grow in a high throughput fashion. In this study we discuss the synthesis, characterization, mechanical testing of a chemically crosslinking Polyethylene glycol (PEG) - Poly-L-Lysine (PLL) based hydrogel, along with optimizing the gel for the cell viability and growth. Also, this study summarizes screen printing process and its effects on the cells as well as the resolution and the sizes of the features obtained.

Screen printing a 3D colon model using hydrogel scaffolds

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.