Abstract: This study aims to develop 3D printed vascular supportive patches (also called sca®olds) from acellular dermal matrix (ADM) and polylactic acid (PLA) suitable for the reconstruction of abdominal wall defects in an animal model. The design and experimental processing conditions required for 3D printing of implantable patches are optimized. The 3D printed patches were tested for their mechanical strength, surface morphology, cytotox- icity, and biocompatibility. The results were also compared with porcine small intestinal submucosa (PSIS) meshes and PLA meshes as controls. The results indicate that the suture load, tensile strength, hydrophobicity, and degradation rate of the 3D printed patches were signi¯cantly higher than that of PSIS and PLA meshes. In vitro evaluation of cell com- patibility with the 3D printed patches was carried out and indicated that the cells were viable and proliferative during the study period. In vivo evaluation of biocompatibility and abdominal wall reconstructive e±cacy of the 3D printed patches was carried out with rat as the model animal. The results indicate that the defect area was repaired well without any noticeable infection, seroma, hematoma, or other conditions. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated the excellent tissue regenerative performance of the 3D printed ADM- PLA-ADM patches, compared with the PSIS meshes and PLA-only meshes, providing a proof of concept for tension-free closure of the abdominal wall defects using 3D printed patches. Therefore, 3D printed ADM-PLA-ADM patches may be considered for abdomi- nal wall reconstructive applications.

Key words: 3D printing, acellular dermal matrix, hernia patches, tissue engineering, abdominal wall defect