NATURAL BIOPRINTING: TEXTILE SOURCES AND PROPERTIES

The field of bioprinting has witnessed a variety of materials attempting to establish themselves as suitable bioinks. In the medical field, bioink has found its application, but it still faces challenges in striking a balance between biological requirements and mechanical properties. Synthetic materials offer the desired mechanical properties due to controlled production, but they lack biocompatibility. These materials, even though they have an upper hand in production, fall short in their ability to interact with the complex in situ environment. Tackling this issue, bioprinting has been revolutionized by natural biopolymers due to their exceptional biocompatibility. Acquired from natural sources, materials such as cellulose, keratin, silk fibroin, alginate, and collagen can easily mimic the extracellular matrix (ECM). Properties required for bioink, such as mechanical strength, biological properties, and rheological behavior, play a crucial role in complex structural bioprinting. Easily tunable to requirements, these materials can provide a range of architects with inherent cellular adhesion, differentiation, and proliferation properties. Despite their weak mechanical strength and inherent rapid biodegradability, continuous improvements in the blending, crosslinking, and modification of biopolymers have significantly enhanced their printability and structural robustness, making it easier to create biologically active constructs and functional scaffolds. This review will discuss these properties and how natural biopolymers can be an ideal candidate for bioink in a wide range of applications.