Aerosol jet® printing of bioconductive AuNPs micropatterns supporting Schwann cell alignment.

چکیده اصلی

Conductive and biocompatible (micro)structures have attracted considerable interest in bioelectronic systems, tissue engineering, and cell-instructive interfaces. However, the reliable fabrication of bioconductive microstructures with high resolution, excellent electrical performance, and good biocompatibility remains a current biofabrication challenge, which requires the synergistic advancement of functionalised materials and their related production process. In this study, Aerosol jet® printing (AJ®P) is proposed as a promising direct writing approach towards fabricating bioconductive microstructures. A systematic investigation was conducted on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) conductive patterns, focusing on the effects of key AJ®P parameters, including nozzle diameter, carrier gas flow rate (CG), and focus ratio (Rf), on printed linewidth (Lw).CGwas identified as the dominant factor governingLw, with a strong coupling effect betweenCGandRf. By optimising printing parameters, a minimumLwof 16.3 ± 0.2μm was achieved with high reproducibility. Electrical characterisation revealed that increasing the number of printed layers significantly reduced resistance, reaching a minimum of 6.8 ± 0.4 Ω due to enhanced microstructural connectivity. The biocompatibility of AuNPs coatings was evaluated by culturing human Dental Pulp Stem cells differentiated Schwann cells (hDPSC-SCs) on the coating. The results demonstrated that hDPSC-SCs displayed good adhesion, proliferation and maintained their phenotype. On AJ®P-fabricated 100/160μm AuNPs micropatterns, the cell density on the AuNPs tracks was about 4 times higher than that on the adjacent glass regions, indicating a pronounced preferential adhesion of hDPSC-SCs to the conductive microtracks. Furthermore, on the 40/160μm AuNP micropatterns, up to 93% of hDPSC-SCs were aligned along the printing direction, demonstrating a strong contact-guidance effect. These results demonstrate that the AuNPs microtracks provided effective guidance, promoting both cell adhesion and alignment. Overall, this study demonstrates the feasibility of AJ®P for the high-resolution fabrication of bioconductive AuNP micropatterns. The findings provide a manufacturing foundation for the application of metal-based conductive microstructures in bioelectronic interfaces and cell-instructive culture systems, and offer valuable insights for the future development of more advanced neural tissue engineering platforms.

ترجمه فارسی چکیده

در این مطالعه، چاپ جت آئروسل (AJ®P) به عنوان یک رویکرد نوین برای ساخت ساختارهای میکروکاملاً هادی و سازگار با زیست پیشنهاد شده است. پارامترهای کلیدی چاپ شامل قطر نازل، نرخ جریان گاز حامل (CG) و نسبت تمرکز (Rf) بر روی عرض خط چاپ (Lw) بررسی شدند. نرخ جریان گاز حامل عامل غالب در کنترل عرض خط بود. با بهینه‌سازی پارامترها، حداقل عرض خط 16.3 ± 0.2 میکرومتر با تکرار بالا به دست آمد. ویژگی‌های الکتریکی نشان دادند که افزایش لایه‌های چاپ شده مقاومت را به شدت کاهش داد. سازگاری زیستی پوشش‌های پودر طلای نانو با سلول‌های عصبی شان (hDPSC-SCs) ارزیابی شد. سلول‌ها در مسیرهای هادی به طور چشمگیری بیشتر از روی شیشه اطراف جمع شدند و تا 93٪ آن‌ها در جهت چاپ قرار گرفتند.

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