AccScience Publishing / IJB / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/ijb.8387
REVIEW
Early Access

ATPS bioinks and microgel formation for bioprinting

Jéssica Heline Lopes da Fonseca1* Cintia Delai da Silva Horinouchi2 Seol-Ha Jeong3*
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1 Department of Manufacturing and Materials Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Campinas, Campinas, 13083-860, Brazil
2 National Laboratory of Bioscience - LNBio, Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), Campinas, 13083-100, Brazil
3 School of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Institute of Chemical Processes, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea
Submitted: 3 January 2025 | Accepted: 1 April 2025 | Published: 3 April 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioprinting: towards New Frontiers)
© 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/ )
Abstract

Biological tissues possess intricate hierarchical structures that enable diverse cellular functions, which are critical for maintaining physiological processes. Mimicking these properties is central to advancing tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS)-derived microgel bioinks have emerged as a versatile platform, offering biocompatibility, mechanical tunability, and multifunctionality for bioprinting applications. Recent advancements, such as oxygen-releasing constructs and modular designs, have demonstrated the potential of ATPS-derived microgel bioinks to create tailored cellular microenvironments, addressing challenges like oxygen delivery and tissue-specific integration while replicating the complexities of native tissues. This review synthesizes these advancements, critically discussing key considerations, including material selection, physicochemical properties, mechanotransduction, and stress-relaxation behavior. Future directions include advancing multi-scale fabrication techniques, refining cell-material interactions, and addressing scalability challenges to bridge the gap between research and clinical application. By providing a comprehensive perspective on the state-of-the-art in ATPS-derived microgel bioinks, this review emphasizes their potential to transform bioprinting and tissue engineering.

Keywords
Aqueous Two-Phase Systems
Microgel Bioinks
Bioprinting
Tissue Engineering
Regenerative Medicine
Funding
Not applicable.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare they have no competing interests.
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International Journal of Bioprinting, Electronic ISSN: 2424-8002 Print ISSN: 2424-7723, Published by AccScience Publishing