| AVS 55th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Biomaterial Interfaces | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session BI-TuM |
| Session: | Protein and Cell Interactions at Interfaces |
| Presenter: | X. Cui, Clemson University |
| Authors: | X. Cui, Clemson University T. Boland, Clemson University |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Cell printing as a new cell seeding technology in tissue engineering has been attracting more and more attentions. The advantages of high throughput, automatically controlled, low cost of cell printing has a promising future for tissue engineering. Inkjet printing technology is currently widely used for cell printing. However, the heating and stress to the cells during the printing process may cause cell apoptosis or other physical or genetic changes. We present here a comprehensively study of changes in heat shock protein expression and cell membrane morphogenesis in Chinese Hamster ovary cells printed with thermal inkjet printers. We found the optimal cell concentration for cell printing using the modified HP Deskjet 500 inkjet printer using the HP 51626A ink cartridge was one million cells per ml. The heat shock protein expression of the printed cells has minor difference between the untreated cells and lower than manually heated cells. The cell membrane of printed cells developed pores which allow small molecules such as propidium iodide and dextran molecules (up to 70kD) to pass. We conclude here that cell printing technology can be used for precise cell seeding in tissue engineering fabrication with minor effect and damages to the printed mammalian cells. The printing process caused temporary pores with various sizes to appear in the membranes. This may have promising applications for small molecules transferred into cells for protein expression and drug delivery purpose.