Inkjet bioprinting of NE-4C neural progenitor cells with enhanced neuronal differentiation via retinoic acid treatment

Abstract

During inkjet bioprinting, cells are subjected to direct shear stress as they pass through the nozzles, causing reversible deformation of the cell membranes and potentially triggering subcellular changes, such as activation of molecular pathways, leading to beneficial o utcomes. I n t his s tudy, n eural p rogenitor NE-4C c ells were printed through 30μm thermal inkjet nozzles. Compared to manually pipetted cells (control group), bioprinted cells (inkjet group) exhibited several distinct changes, such as reduced cell proliferation during the first four days after bioprinting, increased tolerance to high-concentration retinoic acid, and significantly elevated expression of the early neuronal marker class III β-tubulin, indicating enhanced neuronal differentiation. Furthermore, RNA sequencing and enrichment analysis further revealed upregulation of cell metabolism pathways in the bioprinted group. Collectively, these findings suggest that inkjet bioprinting may be a promising strategy to accelerate neural tissue formation, warranting further studies.

Keywords

Inkjet bioprinting / Neural differentiation / Neural progenitor cells

Funding

This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.52075285), the Applied Basic Research Project of Sichuan Province (Grant No.2021YJ0563), and the Natural Science Foundation of Sichuan Province (Grant No. 2023NSFSC0851).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare they have no competing interests.

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