Figure 4

Ultrasonic imaging of construct and flow within the FABRICA. (a) Spectral Doppler Waveforms. (b) Ultrasonic images of a construct on a Kenzan within the bioreactor where walls of hollow construct were visible. (c) Color Doppler image of flow through a hollow construct loaded onto a Kenzan needle array. (d) Representative Aixplorer output of the Color Doppler image and Pulse-Wave Spectrum of flow through the construct within the bioreactor with water at 7 mL/minute. The clear waveform with no signal beneath the waveline indicates a narrow velocity spectrum, denoting that flow within the power Doppler gate is laminar. (e) Perfusion of pig blood at 10 mL/minute. The waveform shows signal beneath the waveline, indicating a broad velocity spectrum indicative of turbulent flow. The scale on the right of both images is in centimeters. (f) Measurements of volumetric flow rate (VFR) within a 3D-bioprinted construct within the FABRICA bioreactor platform using 3 different perfusion media (water, LCCM, DMEM), and porcine and human blood. (g) Measurements of time averaged mean velocity (TAMV) within a 3D-bioprinted construct within the FABRICA bioreactor platform using 3 different perfusion media (water, LCCM, DMEM), and porcine and human blood. (h) Percentage flow velocity losses through the FABRICA system from the pump to the construct.