Jammed Micro-Flake Hydrogel for Four-Dimensional Living Cell Bioprinting

4D bioprinting is promising to build cell-laden constructs (bioconstructs) with complex geometries and functions for tissue/organ regeneration applications. The development of hydrogel-based 4D bioinks, especially those allowing living cell printing, with easy preparation, defined composition, and controlled physical properties is critically important for 4D bioprinting. Here, a single-component jammed micro-flake hydrogel (MFH) system with heterogeneous size distribution, which differs from the conventional granular microgel, has been developed as a new cell-laden bioink for 4D bioprinting. This jammed cytocompatible MFH features scalable production and straightforward composition with shear-thinning, shear-yielding, and rapid self-healing properties. As such, it can be smoothly printed into stable 3D bioconstructs, which can be further cross-linked to form a gradient in cross-linking density when a photoinitiator and a UV absorber are incorporated. After being subject to shape morphing, a variety of complex bioconstructs with well-defined configurations and high cell viability are obtained. Based on this system, 4D cartilage-like tissue formation is demonstrated as a proof-of-concept. The establishment of this versatile new 4D bioink system may open up a number of applications in tissue engineering.