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In this review, in vitro functional models for human liver diseases and drug testing as an alternative to animal testing are described and discussed, highlighting pros and cons of the current state of the art reported in the scientific literature.

The functional capabilities of skeletal muscle are strongly correlated with its well-arranged microstructure, consisting of parallelly aligned myotubes. In case of extensive muscle loss, the endogenous regenerative capacity is hindered by scar tissue formation, which compromises the native muscle structure, ultimately leading to severe functional impairment. To address such an issue, skeletal muscle tissue engineering (SMTE) attempts to fabricate

In the last decades, biomedical research has significantly boomed in the academia and industrial sectors, and it is expected to continue to grow at a rapid pace in the future. An in-depth analysis of such growth is not trivial, given the intrinsic multidisciplinary nature of biomedical research. Nevertheless, technological advances are among the main factors which have enabled such progress. In this review, we discuss the contribution of two state-of-the-art technologies–namely biofabrication and organ-on-a-chip–in a selection of biomedical research areas. We start by providing an overview of these technologies and their capacities in fabricating advancedin vitrotissue/organ models. We then analyze their impact on addressing a range of current biomedical challenges. Ultimately, we speculate about their future developments by integrating these technologies with other cutting-edge research fields such as artificial intelligence and big data analysis.

Although allogeneic islet transplantation has been proposed as a therapy for type 1 diabetes, its success rate remains low. Disruption of both extracellular matrix (ECM) and dense vascular network during islets isolation are referred to as some of the main causes of their poor engraftment. Therefore, the recapitulation of the native pancreatic microenvironment and its prompt revascularization should be beneficial for long-term islet survival. In this study, we developed novel bioinks suitable for the microfluidic-assisted multi-material biofabrication of 3D porous pancreatic and vascular structures. The tissue-specific bioactivity was introduced by blending alginate either with pancreatic decellularized extracellular matrix powder (A_ECM) or fibrinogen (A_FBR). The formulated bioinks, although they exhibited different rheological properties, were 3D-printed with high shape fidelity using a multichannel microfluidic platform coupled with a co-axial needle system. The A_FBR scaffolds were subjected to secondary crosslinking using thrombin, which significantly decreased their swelling and increased mechanical properties. To investigate the bioactivity, the A_ECM and A_FBR bioinks were laden with, respectively, porcine pancreatic islets and a mixture of vessel-forming cells (HUVEC and HMSC) and 3D-bioprinted with high viability. Insulin secretion upon glucose stimulation and developed vessel-like structures composed of CD31-positive cells validated the biomimetic potential of the two formulated bioinks. Moreover, we demonstrated the feasibility of the secondary crosslinking to modulate cell behaviour and angiogenic potential both in vitro and in vivo using a chick chorioallantoic membrane model. Finally, the successful 3D-printing of heterogeneous 3D scaffolds with three different configurations demonstrated that our approach could be considered as a potential step towards the biofabrication of a vascularized pancreas construct.