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.
The*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.