AccScience Publishing / IJB / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/IJB026220223
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Early Access

Development and characterization of a novel anti-reflux artificial lacrimal duct via 3D printing for lacrimal system reconstruction

Bingran Dong1 Fang Bai1 Hai Tao1* Sha Huang2*
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1 The Lacrimal Center, the Senior Department of Ophthalmology, the Third Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100039, China
2 Research Center for Tissue Repair and Regeneration affiliated to the Medical Innovation Research Department, PLA General Hospital and PLA Medical College, 28 Fu Xing Road, Beijing 100853, China
Received: 28 May 2026 | Revised: 24 June 2026 | Accepted: 30 June 2026 | Published online: 30 June 2026
(This article belongs to the Special Issue 3D Printing in Clinical Application)
© 2026 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

Severe lacrimal duct defects, including congenital absence and traumatic obliteration, remain formidable clinical challenges. Current therapeutic strategies, such as Jones tube prosthesis implantation, are severely limited by poor biocompatibility, susceptibility to displacement, and retrograde infections caused by fluid reflux. To address these limitations, we developed a novel anti-reflux artificial lacrimal duct using 3D printing that integrates biomimetic hydrodynamic design with a biochemically optimized microenvironment. A meticulously engineered photopolymerizable composite hydrogel—comprising 15% PEGDA, 3% acrylamide, and 5% GelMA (60% degree of substitution)—was formulated as a high-strength hydrogel ink. Using 3D printing, we precisely fabricated an artificial lacrimal duct featuring a biomimetic unidirectional valve simulating the natural Hasner valve. Guided by proteomic screening, the luminal surface of the construct was subsequently functionalized with a young donor-derived decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) coating, onto which epidermal stem cells (ESCs) were seeded. The structural PEGDA/polyacrylamide (PAAm) network endowed the construct with superior printability and the requisite mechanical resilience for valve fatigue resistance. Hydrodynamic characterizations demonstrated that the 3D-printed valve effectively prevented fluid reflux while maintaining normal drainage, providing a robust physical barrier against retrograde infections. Biologically, the incorporation of GelMA-60 into the bulk scaffold and the young dECM coating at the luminal interface established a rejuvenated biochemical niche that exhibited excellent biocompatibility and successfully induced the targeted differentiation of ESCs into the lacrimal epithelial lineage. By synergizing physical anti-reflux hydrodynamics with omics-driven microenvironment rejuvenation, this composite 3D printed construct enables superior tissue integration and infection resistance, presenting a highly promising tissue-engineered alternative for lacrimal system reconstruction.

Keywords
3D printing
Tissue-engineered lacrimal duct;
Anti-reflux valve
Microenvironment rejuvenation
Proteomics-guided selection
Epithelial differentiation
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International Journal of Bioprinting, Electronic ISSN: 2424-8002 Print ISSN: 2424-7723, Published by AccScience Publishing