Frontiers in Sensors · Oct 23, 2026
Translational advances in smart sensor-integrated 3D bioprinting for tracheal tissue engineering
By Datta S, Barua DR, Dash S et al.
Since the trachea has complex anatomical, mechanical, and biological needs, tracheal problems caused by congenital defects, injuries, prolonged intubation, infections, and cancer still pose major clinical problems. The trachea should be able to keep an open airway, possess a functional respiratory epithelium that is able to perform mucociliary clearance, and also be flexible during breathing and neck movements. Nonetheless, limited availability of donors, immune rejection, infections, restenosis, mechanical misfits, and long-term failures are all problems that hinder the current clinical treatments such as autografts, allografts, and synthetic stents. Therefore, tracheal regeneration remains a problem. This review shows how 3D bioprinting with the use of biosensing technologies, which include biosensors to measure oxygen concentration, pH level, mechanical strain, and tissue maturation in real-time, allows creating smart tracheal tissues. Alongside with the methods of extrusion bioprinting, stereolithography, multimaterial bioprinting, and hybrid bioprinting, the mentioned approaches allow recreating the complex structure of the trachea, its biomechanical gradient, and microenvironment of the trachea. This advancement in 3D bioprinting results in designing smart and functional tracheal grafts that can respond to the changing biological environment. Nevertheless, there are many translational obstacles, which include airway patency, mechanical stability, biocompatibility, and biosensor reliability among others. The integration of biosensors ensures the monitoring of cellular activity, scaffold behavior, and tissue development, which helps in designing the printing techniques. This review paper emphasizes the developments in 3D bioprinting, smart biosensing, digital twin, and artificial intelligence used for tracheal regeneration. Such integrated technology helps in the transformation of experimental products to clinical products of higher quality and intelligence.