3D bioprinting patient-specific grafts for tendon/ligament repair in motion: emerging trends and challenges
Tendon/ligament (T/L) injuries sustained during motion are highly prevalent and severely impact athletes’ careers and quality of life. Current treatments, including autografts, allografts, and synthetic ligaments, have limitations such as donor site morbidity, immune rejection, and biomechanical mis...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-08-01
|
| Series: | Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2025.1643430/full |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849229202842189824 |
|---|---|
| author | Xuejian Bai Yihan Yang Jinwei Chu Yang Deng Mingwei Li Huaiyu Yang |
| author_facet | Xuejian Bai Yihan Yang Jinwei Chu Yang Deng Mingwei Li Huaiyu Yang |
| author_sort | Xuejian Bai |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Tendon/ligament (T/L) injuries sustained during motion are highly prevalent and severely impact athletes’ careers and quality of life. Current treatments, including autografts, allografts, and synthetic ligaments, have limitations such as donor site morbidity, immune rejection, and biomechanical mismatch, especially under dynamic loading conditions encountered in motion. 3D bioprinting offers a revolutionary approach for constructing patient-specific T/L grafts. This Mini Review summarizes recent advancements in utilizing 3D bioprinting to fabricate patient-specific grafts for T/L repair, with a particular focus on strategies catering to the functional demands of “in motion” recovery. Key emerging trends in bioink development (balancing mechanical properties with bioactivity), cell selection and optimization, printing strategies (e.g., multi-material hierarchical printing, biomimetic design for complex mechanical loading), and post-printing maturation culture (e.g., multi-modal mechanical stimulation via bioreactors) are discussed. Furthermore, this review highlights critical challenges in the field, including precise matching and long-term maintenance of graft mechanical properties, effective vascularization and innervation, scalable manufacturing and quality control, and hurdles in clinical translation. Finally, this review underscores the immense potential of 3D bioprinting in personalized, functional T/L repair and envisions future research directions, such as the application of smart biomaterials and 4D bioprinting, refined in vitro maturation strategies, and in vivo bioprinting technologies, ultimately aiming to achieve robust tissue functional restoration “in motion.” |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e9f33097ab2f44af9aabbcfc66a8bc0a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2296-4185 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology |
| spelling | doaj-art-e9f33097ab2f44af9aabbcfc66a8bc0a2025-08-22T05:26:55ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology2296-41852025-08-011310.3389/fbioe.2025.164343016434303D bioprinting patient-specific grafts for tendon/ligament repair in motion: emerging trends and challengesXuejian Bai0Yihan Yang1Jinwei Chu2Yang Deng3Mingwei Li4Huaiyu Yang5The Third Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Fuxin Mining General Hospital of Liaoning Health Industry Group, Liaoning, ChinaQingdao Film Academy, Qingdao, ChinaThe Third Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Fuxin Mining General Hospital of Liaoning Health Industry Group, Liaoning, ChinaThe Third Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Fuxin Mining General Hospital of Liaoning Health Industry Group, Liaoning, ChinaThe Third Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Fuxin Mining General Hospital of Liaoning Health Industry Group, Liaoning, ChinaThe Third Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Fuxin Mining General Hospital of Liaoning Health Industry Group, Liaoning, ChinaTendon/ligament (T/L) injuries sustained during motion are highly prevalent and severely impact athletes’ careers and quality of life. Current treatments, including autografts, allografts, and synthetic ligaments, have limitations such as donor site morbidity, immune rejection, and biomechanical mismatch, especially under dynamic loading conditions encountered in motion. 3D bioprinting offers a revolutionary approach for constructing patient-specific T/L grafts. This Mini Review summarizes recent advancements in utilizing 3D bioprinting to fabricate patient-specific grafts for T/L repair, with a particular focus on strategies catering to the functional demands of “in motion” recovery. Key emerging trends in bioink development (balancing mechanical properties with bioactivity), cell selection and optimization, printing strategies (e.g., multi-material hierarchical printing, biomimetic design for complex mechanical loading), and post-printing maturation culture (e.g., multi-modal mechanical stimulation via bioreactors) are discussed. Furthermore, this review highlights critical challenges in the field, including precise matching and long-term maintenance of graft mechanical properties, effective vascularization and innervation, scalable manufacturing and quality control, and hurdles in clinical translation. Finally, this review underscores the immense potential of 3D bioprinting in personalized, functional T/L repair and envisions future research directions, such as the application of smart biomaterials and 4D bioprinting, refined in vitro maturation strategies, and in vivo bioprinting technologies, ultimately aiming to achieve robust tissue functional restoration “in motion.”https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2025.1643430/fullbiomechanicspersonalized treatmentartificial intelligencemedical-engineering integrationsports injury |
| spellingShingle | Xuejian Bai Yihan Yang Jinwei Chu Yang Deng Mingwei Li Huaiyu Yang 3D bioprinting patient-specific grafts for tendon/ligament repair in motion: emerging trends and challenges Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology biomechanics personalized treatment artificial intelligence medical-engineering integration sports injury |
| title | 3D bioprinting patient-specific grafts for tendon/ligament repair in motion: emerging trends and challenges |
| title_full | 3D bioprinting patient-specific grafts for tendon/ligament repair in motion: emerging trends and challenges |
| title_fullStr | 3D bioprinting patient-specific grafts for tendon/ligament repair in motion: emerging trends and challenges |
| title_full_unstemmed | 3D bioprinting patient-specific grafts for tendon/ligament repair in motion: emerging trends and challenges |
| title_short | 3D bioprinting patient-specific grafts for tendon/ligament repair in motion: emerging trends and challenges |
| title_sort | 3d bioprinting patient specific grafts for tendon ligament repair in motion emerging trends and challenges |
| topic | biomechanics personalized treatment artificial intelligence medical-engineering integration sports injury |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2025.1643430/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT xuejianbai 3dbioprintingpatientspecificgraftsfortendonligamentrepairinmotionemergingtrendsandchallenges AT yihanyang 3dbioprintingpatientspecificgraftsfortendonligamentrepairinmotionemergingtrendsandchallenges AT jinweichu 3dbioprintingpatientspecificgraftsfortendonligamentrepairinmotionemergingtrendsandchallenges AT yangdeng 3dbioprintingpatientspecificgraftsfortendonligamentrepairinmotionemergingtrendsandchallenges AT mingweili 3dbioprintingpatientspecificgraftsfortendonligamentrepairinmotionemergingtrendsandchallenges AT huaiyuyang 3dbioprintingpatientspecificgraftsfortendonligamentrepairinmotionemergingtrendsandchallenges |