Biopolymeric hydrogel bioinks reinforced with natural nanofibrils for 3D-bioprinting applications

Biopolymeric hydrogels are a fascinating family of materials for a panoply of applications, including 3D-bioprinting, due to their singular properties, such as low cytotoxicity, hydrophilicity, and biodegradability. Among the catalogue of biopolymers, polysaccharides and proteins are of particular relevance for the preparation of hydrogels for 3D-bioprinting. However, biopolymeric hydrogels have some mechanical and biological limitations, namely structural degradability, and, in some cases, poor cell-adhesion. These restrictions are usually overcome via blending with other materials and cell-adherent molecules. An example of such materials includes protein and cellulose nanofibrils that present excellent properties in terms of mechanical strength and stability, but also cell-adherent activities, and their use as building nanoblocks in innovative functional nanocomposites has attracted increasing attention [1,2].
In the present communication, recent developments accomplished in our Research Group on the design of new nanocomposite-based biopolymeric hydrogels reinforced with protein or cellulose nanofibrils, specifically on nanocellulose fibrils-pectin and lysozyme nanofibrils-alginate based hydrogels, with improved mechanical performance and cell viability for application in the development of bioinks for 3D-bioprinting, will be presented.