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RESEARCH ARTICLE

3D-bioprinted hydrogels with instructive niches for dental pulp regeneration

Nazi Zhou1 ,  Shunyao Zhu1 ,  Xinlin Wei2 ,  Xueyuan Liao1 ,  Yu Wang1 ,  Yue Xu1 ,  Liyun Bai1 ,  Haoyuan Wan1 ,  Li Liu1 ,  Jiumeng Zhang3 ,  Ling Zeng4 ,  Jie Tao1* ,  Rui Liu1*
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1 Department of Stomatology, Daping Hospital, Army Medical University (The Third Military Medical University), Chongqing, China
2 College of Materials Science and Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
3 Chongqing Key Laboratory of Natural Product Synthesis and Drug Research, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China
4 Department of Trauma Medical Center, Daping Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns and Combined Injury, Army Medical University, Chongqing, China
IJB, 1790 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijb.1790
Submitted: 11 September 2023 | Accepted: 21 December 2023 | Published: 5 February 2024
© 2024 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Infections to dental pulp commonly result in pulpitis and pulp necrosis, and surgical removal of the infected tissues is the only therapeutic approach. Dental pulp injury remains a challenging medical issue due to the limited regenerative capability of dental pulp. In this work, a dental pulp guidance construct (DPGC) with the instructive niche was bioprinted to mimic native teeth for dentin and neovascular-like structure reconstruction. GelMA-Dextran aqueous emulsion was used as an ink for in situ printing of porous DPGC to induce predominant nuclear localization of Yes-associated protein (YAP) in the encapsulated dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) and enhance their stemness properties. Furthermore, the DPSCs encapsulated in DPGC with microporous structures exhibited enhanced viability, migration, and spreading. Meanwhile, we found that DPGC could promote capillary tube formation and induce neurogenesis. In a mouse subcutaneous implant model, the DPGC consisted of porous structures, such as odontoblasts and newly formed vascular structures, that mimic dental pulp characteristics. This study demonstrated a new strategy to design DPGC with instructive niche for dental pulp regeneration, presenting a potential treatment alternative to root canal therapy.

Keywords
Dental pulp guidance construct
Dental pulp stem cells
Porous hydrogel
Dental pulp regeneration
Funding
This study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82201087), Science and Technology Innovation Capability Enhancement Project of Army Medical University (2022XJS30), Direct Train Research Project of Chongqing Doctor (CSTB2022BSM-C0027), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (82100306).
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Conflict of interest
The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
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International Journal of Bioprinting, Electronic ISSN: 2424-8002 Print ISSN: 2424-7723, Published by AccScience Publishing
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