Inkjet printing of mammalian cells – Theory and applications

Inkjet bioprinting is a new and versatile technology which has found novel applications in cell biology and associated biomedical research. Cells suspended in a low-viscosity liquid medium can be readily dispensed using piezoelectric and thermal actuation-based drop-on-demand inkjet printers, which are the most commonly used inkjet printing technologies. As inkjet printing has the advantage of producing high resolution and high precision prints, it is one of the most suitable technologies for bottom-up cell deposition for building intricate biological constructs. In addition, with the use of appropriate bioinks, inkjet printing can produce both, 2D as well as 3D structures. This review paper is an attempt to curate inkjet bioprinting research, with an exclusive focus on mammalian cells, and comprehend the main application areas, such as intracellular delivery and transfection, gene expression modification, single cell sorting, cell microarray, cell micropatterning, tissue engineering, and in vivo cell printing. The printability of cells has also been discussed in order to understand how the process of inkjet bioprinting affects the cellular mechanics and physiology and subsequent survival, proliferation and differentiation.