AccScience Publishing / IJB / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/ijb.8535
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RESEARCH ARTICLE

3D-printed degradable hair follicular hanging-drop scaffolds integrated with tissue-engineered skin promote hair follicle regeneration in vitro

Bin Yao1, 2, 3 ,  Yuhong Wang1, 2 ,  Dongzhen Zhu4 ,  Tian Hu5 ,  Sha Huang4* ,  Ping Zhu1, 2*
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1 Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
2 Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Pathogenesis, Targeted Prevention and Treatment of Heart Disease, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Cardiac Pathogenesis and Prevention, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
3 Academy of Medical Engineering and Translational Medicine, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China
4 Research Center for Tissue Repair and Regeneration Affiliated to the Medical Innovation Research Department, PLA General Hospital and PLA Medical College, Beijing, China
5 MRC Human Immunology Unit, MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
IJB 2025, 11(2), 412–428; https://doi.org/10.36922/ijb.8535
Submitted: 14 January 2025 | Accepted: 19 February 2025 | Published: 19 February 2025
© 2025 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

Currently, a substantial number of patients suffer from the distress of skin defects. Tissue-engineered skin represents a promising alternative therapeutic option for these patients. However, the currently available tissue-engineered skin products still exhibit significant limitations, including poor long-term viability and a lack of appendages. The advent of three-dimensional (3D) printing technology and organoid formation techniques provides a promising avenue for addressing these challenges. In this study, we constructed a scaffold using 3D printing with sodium alginate (NaAlg)/gelatin (GEL)/alginate lyase hydrogel, which has controllable pore size and degradation rate. This scaffold provides a favorable microenvironment for the colonization and functional maturation of hair follicular hanging drops within artificially organized skin. In vitro observations revealed the regeneration of hair follicles and the high expression of hair follicle-specific markers, LIM homeobox 2 (LHX2), and cytokeratin 17 (CK17). In addition, we studied the follicular polarization of the engineered skin compared to normal skin and attempted to identify possible underlying mechanisms. In conclusion, our findings present a novel strategy for establishing artificial skin with appendages.

Graphical abstract
Keywords
3D bioprinting
Alginate lyase
Hair follicle
Microenvironment
Skin appendage regeneration
Funding
This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (82170256), the Guangdong Major Project of Basic and Applied Basic Research (2023B0303000005), and the Guangdong Provincial Special Support Program for Prominent Talents (2021JC06Y656).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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International Journal of Bioprinting, Electronic ISSN: 2424-8002 Print ISSN: 2424-7723, Published by AccScience Publishing
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