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REVIEW PAPER
Pectin: emerging plant-based component for 3D bioprinting – a mini-review
1
Institute of Agrophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Doświadczalna 4, 20-290 Lublin, Poland
Final revision date: 2026-08-13
Acceptance date: 2026-09-04
Corresponding author
Artur Zdunek
Microstructure and Mechanics of Biomaterials, Institute of Agrophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Doświadczalna 4, 20-290, Lublin, Poland
Microstructure and Mechanics of Biomaterials, Institute of Agrophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Doświadczalna 4, 20-290, Lublin, Poland
HIGHLIGHTS
- Pectin is located in the plant cell wall
- Pectin-only bioinks face challenges like poor printability and stability
- Structural features of pectin may be used to tune properties of the bioink
- Metods for tuning the rheological properties of pectin have been developed
- Pectin-based bio inks are promising in food and medical applications
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
This mini-review focuses on the recent usage of pectin for 3D bioprinting in biomedical and food industry applications by highlighting the design and functional optimisation of bioinks. It discusses the structural features of pectin, effects of physicochemical factors influencing gelation, designing of pectin-based bioinks, and applications of pectin based bioinks across various fields. Furthermore, it investigates the recent advancements in this field by tuning the rheological properties by crosslinking and blending with other polymers which eventually improvise the printing and stability of the printed constructs. It also discusses, current limitations including reproducibility and strategy for standardised formulation along with future directions in this field.
FUNDING
This work was supported by the National Science Centre, Poland (grant number 2023/49/B/NZ9/02979).
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
AUTHORS' CONTRIBUTIONS
APV – writing, editing, graphics; JC – writing, editing; SB – reviewing; AZ – writing, reviewing, supervision, editing. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
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