Inkjet printing technology has been used to successfully print cells taken from the eye for the first time in a study funded by Fight for Sight.
The breakthrough, published in the journal Biofabrication, could reportedly lead to the production of artificial tissue grafts made from the variety of cells found in the human retina.
A piezoelectric inkjet printer was used to print two types of cells from the retina of adult rats – ganglion cells and glial cells, researchers said. The printed cells remained healthy and retained their ability to survive and grow in culture.
Co-authors of the study Professor Keith Martin and Dr Barbara Lorber, from the John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, University of Cambridge, said: ‘The loss of nerve cells in the retina is a feature of many blinding eye diseases. The retina is an exquisitely organised structure where the precise arrangement of cells in relation to one another is critical for effective visual function.
‘Our study has shown, for the first time, that cells derived from the mature central nervous system, the eye, can be printed using a piezoelectric inkjet printer. Although our results are preliminary and much more work is still required, the aim is to develop this technology for use in retinal repair in the future.’
During the study, cells were ejected through a sub-millimetre diameter nozzle when a specific electrical pulse was applied, and the printing process was recorded with high resolution.
‘In order for a fluid to print well from an inkjet print head, its properties, such as viscosity and surface tension, need to conform to a fairly narrow range of values. Adding cells to the fluid complicates its properties significantly,’ said Dr Wen-Kai Hsiao, another member of the team based at the Inkjet Research Centre in Cambridge.
Once printed, a number of tests were performed on each type of cell to see how many of the cells survived the process and how it affected their ability to survive and grow.
‘We plan to extend this study to print other cells of the retina and to investigate if light-sensitive photoreceptors can be successfully printed using inkjet technology. In addition, we would like to further develop our printing process to be suitable for commercial, multi-nozzle print heads,’ Professor Martin added.