3D Printing Revolution for Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine

Introduction The 3D printing is about to really transform our lives. While traditional laser and inkjet printers only make marks on paper, 3D printers build up solid objects one very thin layer over another. We are beginning... [ view full abstract ]

Introduction
The 3D printing is about to really transform our lives. While traditional laser and inkjet printers only make marks on paper, 3D printers build up solid objects one very thin layer over another. We are beginning to be surrounded by many prototypes, jewelry, sunglasses, works of art, toys and vehicle parts, but the next expected revolution is going to impact on the nanotechnology and biomedical fields.
Methods
Here we show how the 3D prototyping of a cell culture device gives the opportunity to easily culture cells on a sheet of carbon nanotubes, referred as “buckypaper”, and that these cells can be easily transduced with microRNAs, small RNA molecules able to regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally.
We printed 3D scaffolds using a commercial home-made printer (3DRag) and we studied polymer-coated buckypapers (BP) supported by them. We also assessed their toxicity compared to uncoated BP on Hek cells.
Results
3D scaffolds enable to obtain a versatile support to study BP toxicity and cell culture adhesion and proliferation. Polymer coated BPs have been demonstrated to be less toxic than the uncoated BP.
Discussion
Interestingly, buckypaper is only one of the numerous examples of biomaterials that it is possible to employ in biomedical applications for culturing cells. Therefore, we envisage that in the near future a growing number of materials and potential applications in the biomedical filed will appear on the horizon. 3D printed devices can open new perspectives not only for targeted manufacturing in the biomedical field but also for producing novel materials and ‘bio-devices’ for nanomedicine applications.