Intraoperative bioprinting (IOB) refers to the bioprinting process performed on a live subject in a surgical setting. The technique is intended to allow surgeons to rapidly fill bony defects that would not easily heal by themselves and they used a controlled co-delivery release of growth factors from a gene-activated matrix (an osteogenic bioink loaded with plasmid-DNAs (pDNA)) to promote bone formation. Recently, researchers have been able to use this method to directly deliver gene-activated matrices into critical-sized rat calvaria defects. The controlled-released pDNAs from the intraoperatively bioprinted bone constructs resulted in ∼۹۰% bone coverage area after 6 weeks compared to ∼۲۵% total bone coverage area in empty defects. The delivery of growth factors incorporated within the intraoperatively bioprinted constructs could pose as an effective way to enhance bone regeneration in patients with cranial injuries in the future.

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Moncal, Kazim K., et al. “Controlled Co-delivery of pPDGF-B and pBMP-2 from intraoperatively bioprinted bone constructs improves the repair of calvarial defects in rats.” Biomaterials 281 (2022): 121333.