Biofabrication of Tissue Scaffolds - Advances in Biomaterials Science and Biomedical Applications - page 319

Figure 3. Schematic of electrospinning apparatus. (Modified from [29])

2. Rapid prototyping

As an alternative to conventional scaffold fabrication methods, a group of techniques based
on rapid prototyping (RP) has recently been introduced within the tissue engineering field.
RP techniques, based on computer assisted design (CAD) and manufacturing (CAM) techni‐
ques, allow for better control of scaffold internal microstructure and external macroshape
compared to conventional fabrication techniques [4, 30]. Three basic RP system types: liq‐
uid-based, solid-based, and powder-based can be selected based on the properties of differ‐
ent scaffold biomaterials. The primary RP processes applied to tissue scaffold fabrication
include stereolithography (SLA) [31], selective laser sintering (SLS) [32], fused deposition
modeling (FDM) [33], three dimensional (3D) printing [34], and 3D plotting [35]. The choice
of materials for the RP techniques includes various polymers, ceramics, and metals. Recent‐
ly, RP techniques have also demonstrated their capacity for embedding living cells [36, 37]
and growth factors [38] into scaffolds during the fabrication process and thus their utility for
creating biomimetic tissue scaffolds.