Bioprinted Hydrogel Material
The 3D bioprinted cartilage is based on a specially designed hydrogel - a jelly-like raw material - that is mixed with human cells harvested from the patient. This mixture of the hydrogel and organic material is then printed in the specific shape of the target nose cartilage based on images captured with 3D imaging. Over several weeks, the fabricated material is cultured in a lab - under controlled conditions - to become fully functional cartilage.
"It takes a lifetime to make cartilage in an individual, while this method takes about four weeks. So you still expect that there will be some degree of maturity that it has to go through, especially when implanted in the body," explains Adetola Adesida, a co-author of the study and a surgery professor at the university's Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, in a press release from the University of Alberta. She adds that functionally speaking, it also does the things that natural cartilage does.