Soon bones printed in 3D directly in the body of patients -

Geeko

3D printing has been used for several years now to replace living tissue, be it skin, corneas or blood vessels.

However, in the case of bones, this practice is far from optimal since it generally involves synthetic components that can be rejected by the patient's body, but researchers at the University of New South Wales located in Sydney, Australia seem to have found a solution to this problem.

These bioengineers have indeed succeeded in developing a ceramic ink that can be 3D printed at room temperature using living cells.

This would avoid the use of harsh chemicals and reduce the risk of rejection, but in the long term, this ink would also potentially print bones directly in the patient's body since it will be at room temperature.

“Unlike previous materials, our technique offers a way to print

in situ

constructions 

 that mimic the structure and chemistry of bone,” assures study co-author Iman Roohani, bio-engineer at the UNSW School of Chemistry, in the journal 

Advanced Functional Materials.

Facilitate a risky intervention

This process called "omnidirectional bio-impression of suspended ceramic in cells" (COBICS) could prove particularly useful and could even improve another method of repairing damaged bone known as autologous bone grafting.

The latter involves removing a piece of bone from another part of the body to repair the damaged bone.

A method that has several drawbacks, especially when the amount of bone to be removed is large.

The risks of infection are also rather high with this type of intervention.

The possibility of printing or repairing bones directly in the patient's body could therefore be a saving solution, especially since these are living cells that will be used.

The ink in question is composed of biocompatible calcium phosphate which is in the form of a paste at room temperature and which solidifies when it is immersed in a bath of gelatin or other solution.

It will then transform into a porous nanocrystalline matrix similar to that of bone tissue.

The concept devised by researchers at the University of New South Wales still needs to be perfected and tested, but it is still promising.

"The possibilities are endless," said one of the researchers.

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