Journal: Bioactive Materials

Article Title: Ribbon-shaped microgels as bioinks for 3D bioprinting of anisotropic tissue structures

doi: 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2025.12.040

Figure Lengend Snippet: Effect of extrusion process on μRB bioink and cell alignment. (A) Schematic of MSCs encapsulated in μRB bioink with HUVECs seeded on top of the printed scaffolds. (B) Live cell staining of MSC alignment on individual μRBs (Scale bar = 100 μm). (C) Distribution of MSC cell length (n = 250 per group); p-values were determined by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Tukey's multiple comparisons test; ∗∗∗∗p < 0.0001. (D) Cell orientation relative to μRB orientation, where 0° is parallel to the axis of the μRB (n = 250 per group). (E) Confocal images of F-Actin staining for cell morphology and VE-cadherin staining for endothelial cell junctions. Color survey visualization of directional analysis conducted using OrientationJ (Scale bar = 200 μm). (F, G) Quantification of F-actin and VE-Cadherin alignment. For alignment quantification (n = 10 per group) data reported as mean ± S.D., statistical analysis by Watson–Wheeler test, ∗p ≤ 0.05.

Article Snippet: Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs, Lonza) were cultured in Endothelial Cell Growth Media (R&D Systems).

Techniques: Staining