Goa: Researchers at BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus, have developed a pharmaceutical polymer-based hydrogel for extrusion-based 3D printing, with potential applications in skin tissue engineering and customised drug delivery.

The study, published in the Journal of Biological Engineering, explores the use of pharmaceutical-grade polymers such as starch, maltodextrin and sodium alginate to create hydrogels with properties suitable for 3D printing.

The method could help address some challenges associated with traditional bioinks, including material variability, safety, high costs and regulatory approvals.

The research was led by Prof Anasuya Ganguly, along with researchers from the departments of Biological Sciences and Chemical Engineering at BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus.

The researchers formulated a hydrogel designed to exhibit the flow and recovery properties required for extrusion-based 3D printing. The material demonstrated shear-thinning behaviour, enabling it to flow under the shear applied during printing and subsequently recover its structure after deposition.

The study reported 87 per cent thixotropic recovery, indicating the material's ability to retain the shape and structural integrity of printed constructs.

The researchers also evaluated the biological compatibility of the hydrogel using L929 and HaCaT cells relevant to skin tissue engineering. The formulation demonstrated more than 70 per cent cell viability in the tested cell models.

The printed scaffolds also showed blood compatibility, with 5 per cent haemolysis reported in the study. Confocal microscopy provided evidence of cell growth on the crosslinked hydrogel.

"This study demonstrates that pharmaceutical-grade polymers can be formulated into hydrogels with properties suitable for 3D bioprinting," Ganguly said.

The researchers further demonstrated the versatility of the formulation by incorporating glimepiride into the hydrogel to produce 3D-printed customised chewable tablets.

The printed tablets demonstrated 100.4 per cent content uniformity, indicating consistent drug loading, and exhibited a sustained drug-release profile over four hours.

The findings indicate that 3D bioprinting could offer greater flexibility in designing oral dosage forms and potentially enable customised formulations based on specific therapeutic requirements.

The researchers said the work uses pharmaceutical polymers rather than relying exclusively on specialised or animal-derived biomaterials.

However, the study represents a research-stage demonstration and is not a clinically approved treatment or commercially available 3D-printed medical product.