Optimization of 3D bioprinting of human neuroblastoma cells using sodium alginate hydrogel

Abstract There are many parameters in extrusion-based three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting of different materials that require fine-tuning to obtain the optimal print resolution and cell viability. To standardize this process, methods such as parameter optimization index (POI) have been introduced. The POI aims at pinpointing the optimal printing speed and pressure to achieve the highest accuracy keeping theoretical shear stress low. Here we applied the POI to optimize the process of 3D bioprinting human neuroblastoma cell-laden 2% sodium alginate (SA) hydrogel using freeform reversible embedding of suspended hydrogels (FRESH). Our results demonstrate a notable difference between optimal parameters for printing 2% SA with and without cells in the hydrogel. We also detected a significant influence of long-term cell culture on the printed constructs. This observation suggests that the POI has to be evaluated in the perspective of the final application. When taking these conditions into consideration, we could define a set of parameters that resulted in good quality prints maintaining high neuroblastoma cell viability (83% viable cells) during 7 days of cell culture using 2% SA and FRESH bioprinting. These results can be further used to manufacture neuroblastoma in vitro 3D culture systems to be used for cancer research.