Harnessing decellularised extracellular matrix microgels into modular bioinks for extrusion-based bioprinting with good printability and high post-printing cell viability.

The printability of bioink and post-printing cell viability is crucial for extrusion-based bioprinting. A proper bioink not only provides mechanical support for structural fidelity, but also serves as suitable three-dimensional (3D) microenvironment for cell encapsulation and protection. In this study, a hydrogel-based composite bioink was developed consisting of gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) as the continuous phase and decellularised extracellular matrix microgels (DMs) as the discrete phase. A flow-focusing microfluidic system was employed for the fabrication of cell-laden DMs in a high-throughput manner. After gentle mixing of the DMs and GelMA, both rheological characterisations and 3D printing tests showed that the resulting DM-GelMA hydrogel preserved the shear-thinning nature, mechanical properties, and good printability from GelMA. The integration of DMs not only provided an extracellular matrix-like microenvironment for cell encapsulation, but also considerable shear-resistance for high post-printing cell viability. The DM sizes and inner diameters of the 3D printer needles were correlated and optimised for nozzle-based extrusion. Furthermore, a proof-of-concept bioink composedg of RSC96 Schwann cells encapsulated DMs and human umbilical vein endothelial cell-laden GelMA was successfully bioprinted into 3D constructs, resulting in a modular co-culture system with distinct cells/materials distribution. Overall, the modular DM-GelMA bioink provides a springboard for future precision biofabrication and will serve in numerous biomedical applications such as tissue engineering and drug screening.