3D Printing of Biocompatible Scaffolds for Eye Tissue Engineering

Eye tissue engineering is becoming a promising field in the study and treatment of vitreoretinal diseases, and novel hydrogels are under investigation for vitreous body replacement and 3D cell culture applications. In order to handle a not self-standing hydrogel and to provide it with eye shape, a rigid scaffold that is transparent, non-toxic, and easy to move is needed. To this purpose, we produced bowl-shaped samples by stereolithography (SLA) starting from different commercial transparent resins. We optimized the 3D printing protocol by tuning parameters such as exposure time, layer thickness, and light blocker content added to the resins. The specimens that showed the best dimensional accuracy were chosen to perform biocompatibility tests at different time-point and transparency tests under an optical microscope. Preliminary results showed that the cell culture medium conditioned by the first tested resin formulations caused a massive cell death in the MS5 cell line tested, whereas different formulations did not impact on cell viability. Furthermore, the as built resin samples did not allow cell observation under inverted microscope. It was demonstrated that post-processing progressive grinding remarkably improved cell visualization.