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Abstract
A piezoelectric actuated, drop-on-demand inkjet printing system has been used to deliver
suspensions of human fibroblast cells from a well-characterized cell line (HT 1080)
in order to investigate the behaviour of cells exposed to the mechanical and fluid
stresses associated with the printing process. By varying the amplitude and rise time
of the electrical pulse used to excite the piezoelectric actuator, it is possible
to alter the stresses experienced by the cells. It is shown that the amplitude of
the pulse has a small influence on cell survivability with regression analysis showing
cell survival rates falling from 98% with a 40 V pulse (indistinguishable from control
measurements) to approximately 94% with a 80 V pulse. The rise time of the pulse was
found to have no influence on cell survival. Cell viability post-printing was also
assessed using the Alamar Blue metabolic assay and the cells that survived were unaffected
by the printing process, with neither pulse amplitude nor rise time showing any significant
influence on cell viability (using the standard 5% probability threshold). However,
inkjet printing requires cell suspensions to be stable over several minutes during
the printing process and it was found that after about 20 min printing, some cell
agglomeration or sedimentation affected the printing performance.