Bioprinting of Vascularized Tissue Scaffolds: Influence of Biopolymer, Cells, Growth Factors, and Gene Delivery

Table 1

Influence of biological factor on tissue vascularization.

Biological factor	Percentage/dosing amount	Scaffold details	Fabrication method	In vitro/in vivo	Results/findings	Reference
PLLA enriched with basement membrane proteins (Matrigel)	5% PLLA	6 × 6 × 1 mm	Solvent-casting particulate leaching	In vivo	Creation of uniform, branched microvascular network	[91]
Silk fibroin micronets	—	5 × 5 mm	3D nonwoven substrates made by boiling cocoons and soaking in 98% formic acid	In vivo	Promising vascularization by preculturing with osteoblasts	[157]
Gelatin-based sacrificial filament was embedded into a collagen scaffold	10% gelatin and 3.0 mg/mL collagen	Channels in the range of 0.7–1.5 mm for the width and 0.5–1.2 mm for the height	3D bioprinting	In vitro (human umbilical vein endothelial cells)	Supporting the viability of tissue up to 5 mm in distance at 5 million cells/mL density under the physiological flow condition	[1, 158]
Human outgrowth endothelial cells (OECs)	Starch-poly(caprolactone)	—	As described in [159]	In vivo	Osteoblasts played a pericyte‐like role and supported OEC-derived vessels	[159]
Fibroblast growth factor-loaded microspheres	Alginate scaffold (2% (w/v)) that incorporates tiny poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) microspheres	High porosity (90%) with an average pore size of 130 microns	As described in [160]	In vitro basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF)	The released bFGF induced the formation of large and matured blood vessels	[161]
Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB), and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1)	Alginate-sulfate/alginate (1% (w/v) solution of sodium alginate and a 0.3% (w/v) solution of hemicalcium gluconate for alginate crosslinking)	Diameter of 11 mm and thickness of 3 mm	Freeze-dry technique	In vivo	Creation of mature vessels after 3 months	[124]
VEGF and Ang-1	Hyaluronan (HA)	—	As described in [159]	In vivo	Creation of higher microvessel density after 14 days	[116]
FGF-4 plasmid	Gelatin hydrogel	—	Injection of GHG-DNA complex into the hindlimb muscle	In vivo	Promotion of angiogenesis in the newly developed tissues in the GHG-FGF4 group than the naked FGF4-gene four weeks after gene transfer	[147]
Plasmid encoding PDGF	Subcutaneously implanted PLG sponges	—	Gas foaming/particulate-leaching process	In vivo/in vitro	Improvement of ECM deposition and capillary formation	[148]
Plasmid-mediated VEGF	PLGA nanoparticles	—	Injection of the suspension of VEGF-loaded nanoparticles (VEGF-NPs) into myocardial tissues	In vivo	Higher capillary number compared to the naked plasmid DNA group	[149]