Development of physiologically relevant bioinks with Au nanoparticles as a novel theranostics approach for bone tissue engineering

Nowadays, the attention of scientists worldwide in Tissue Engineering (TE) field has been focused in the production of precise solutions for patients. To achieve this aim, bioprinting has emerged as a promising technology in personalized approaches. This technology relies on bioprintable materials (bioinks) to create more precise and relevant three dimensional environments (1). Bioinks are a crucial part of the bioprinting process as they need to possess the right viscosity since it may enable the delivery of viable cells and at the same time allow create specific constructs with the desired shape, structure and architecture (2). Extracellular matrix (ECM) have stand out in the last years. In fact, ECM is the native scaffold found within the human body. ECM can be obtained from several sources by using a combination of techniques (physical, chemical and enzymatic) to lyse cells and remove the cellular material preserving its structure and components (3). The decellularized ECM (dECM) can then be processed for a variety of applications, presenting low immunogenicity and optimal environment for tissue regeneration. Since Human adipose derived stem cells (hASCs) produce high amounts of ECM upon confluence, they will be further investigated as possible source of dECM. Additionally, hASCs can differentiate along the osteoblastic lineage, upon induction, producing specific cues for bone tissue engineering. Finally, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) induce osteogenic differentiation, as previously shown by our group, making them very appealing for the achievement of a successful bone tissue engineering approach (4). Overall, the main goal of this work is the development of a novel and advanced system based in the combination of dECM bioinks and AuNPs (GGAuNPs) for bone regeneration approaches