Aloe vera-based biomaterial ink for 3D bioprinting of wound dressing constructs.

This study emphasizes the development of a multifunctional biomaterial ink for wound healing constructs. The biomaterial ink benefits from Aloe vera's intrinsic biocompatible, biodegradable, antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory attributes, thus alleviating the need for supplementary substances employed to combat infections and stimulate tissue regeneration. Moreover, this biomaterial ink seeks to address the scarcity of standardized printable materials possessing adequate biocompatibility and physicochemical properties, which hinder its widespread clinical adoption. The biomaterial ink was synthesized via ionic crosslinking to enhance its rheological and mechanical characteristics. The findings revealed that Aloe vera substantially boosted the hydrogel's viscoelastic behavior, enabling superior compressive modulus and the extrusion of fine filaments. The bioprinted constructs exhibited desirable resolution and mechanical strength while displaying a porous microstructure analogous to the native extracellular matrix. Biological response demonstrated no detrimental impact on stem cell viability upon exposure to the biomaterial ink, as confirmed by live/dead assays. These outcomes validate the potential of the developed biomaterial ink as a resource for the bioprinting of wound dressings that effectively foster cellular proliferation, thereby promoting enhanced wound healing by leveraging Aloe vera's inherent properties.

Three dimensional printed biofilms: Fabrication, design and future biomedical and environmental applications.

Three dimensional printing has emerged as a widely acceptable strategy for the fabrication of mammalian cell laden constructs with complex microenvironments for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. More recently 3D printed living materials containing microorganisms have been developed and matured into living biofilms. The potential for engineered 3D biofilms as in vitro models for biomedical applications, such as antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and environmental applications, such as bioleaching, bioremediation, and wastewater purification, is extensive but the need for an in-depth understanding of the structure-function relationship between the complex construct and the microorganism response still exists. This review discusses 3D printing fabrication methods for engineered biofilms with specific structural features. Next, it highlights the importance of bioink compositions and 3D bioarchitecture design. Finally, a brief overview of current and potential applications of 3D printed biofilms in environmental and biomedical fields is discussed.

Sulfated Hydrogels in Intervertebral Disc and Cartilage Research.

Hydrogels are commonly used for the 3D culture of musculoskeletal cells. Sulfated hydrogels, which have seen a growing interest over the past years, provide a microenvironment that help maintain the phenotype of chondrocytes and chondrocyte-like cells and can be used for sustained delivery of growth factors and other drugs. Sulfated hydrogels are hence valuable tools to improve cartilage and intervertebral disc tissue engineering. To further advance the utilization of these hydrogels, we identify and summarize the current knowledge about different sulfated hydrogels, highlight their beneficial effects in cartilage and disc research, and review the biofabrication processes most suitable to secure best quality assurance through deposition fidelity, repeatability, and attainment of biocompatible morphologies.

Measuring sediment grain size across the catchment to reef continuum: Improved methods and environmental insights.

Sediments collected within freshwater, estuarine and marine habitats were used to trial various chemical and physical pre-treatments to develop a systematic protocol for grain-size analysis using laser diffraction. Application of this protocol mitigates the influence of bio-physical processes that may transform grain-size distributions, enabling the characterisation and quantification of 'primary' mineral sediments across the complex freshwater-marine continuum to be more reliably assessed. Application of the protocol to two Great Barrier Reef (Australia) river catchments and their estuaries reveals the ecologically relevant <20 µm fraction comprises a larger component of exported sediment than existing methods indicate. These findings are highly relevant when comparing measured data to grain-size-specific modelled sediment loads and water-quality targets. Finally, adoption of the protocol also improves the environmental interpretation of the influence of 'terrigenous sediment' in marine settings, including quantification of newly-delivered flood plume sediment.