3D Printed Hydrogel Seeded with Na**particles Filters Toxins Similar to Dialysis
 

3D Printed Hydrogel Seeded with Na**particles Filters Toxins Similar to Dialysis
http://cdn.medgadget.com/wp-content/...pda-toxins.jpgPDA na**particles (green) are installed in PEGDA hydrogel matrix (grey) with liver-mimetic 3D structure fabricated by 3D printing. The na**particles attract, capture and sense toxins (red), while the 3D matrix with modified liver lobule structure allows toxins to be trapped efficiently. Nature Communications


Engineered na**particles have the capacity to grab onto toxins, but evacuating them out of the body undisturbed is a challenge since they can get accumulated inside the liver for hepatic metabolism and excretion, creating a risk of secondary poisoning. To overcome this, investigators at the University of California, San Diego designed a new 3D printed device that’s made of a hydrogel embedded with detoxifying na**particles, that permanently stay with it.

http://cdn.medgadget.com/wp-content/.../3d-kidney.jpgThe*polydiacetylene na**particles are able to trap toxins and the hydrogel matrix makes sure they stay safely inside the device, until the whole system is ******* or disconnected. As a proof of concept, the team ran a solution of pore-forming toxins through the device and showed that its virulence went down to zero after filtration.

More about the tech**logy according to UC San Diego:

“One unique feature of this device is that it turns red when the toxins are captured,” said the co-first author, Xin Qu, who is a postdoctoral researcher working in [Shaochen] Chen’s laboratory.* “The concept of using 3D printing to encapsulate functional na**particles in a biocompatible hydrogel is **vel,” said Chen. “This will inspire many new designs for detoxification techniques since 3D printing allows user-specific or site-specific manufacturing of highly functional products,” Chen said.

Chen’s lab has already*demonstrated*the ability to print complex 3D microstructures, such as blood vessels, in mere seconds out of soft biocompatible hydrogels that contain living cells.

Chen’s biofabrication tech**logy, called dynamic optical projection stereolithography (DOPsL), can produce the micro- and na**scale resolution required to print tissues that mimic nature’s fine-*****ed details, including blood vessels, which are essential for distributing nutrients and oxygen throughout the body. The biofabrication technique uses a computer projection system and precisely controlled micromirrors to shine light on a selected area of a solution containing photo-sensitive biopolymers and cells. This photo-induced solidification process forms one layer of solid structure at a time, but in a continuous fashion.

Study in Nature Communications: Bio-inspired detoxification using 3D-printed hydrogel na**composites

Press release: Bioprinting a 3D Liver-Like Device to Detoxify the Blood

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