Microphysiological Engineering of Self-Assembled and Perfusable Microvascular Beds for the Production of Vascularized Three-Dimensional Human Microtissues.

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

The vasculature is an essential component of the circulatory system that plays a vital role in the development, homeostasis, and disease of various organs in the human body. The ability to emulate the architecture and transport function of blood vessels in the integrated context of their associated organs represents an important requirement for studying a wide range of physiological processes. Traditional in vitro models of the vasculature, however, largely fail to offer such capabilities. Here we combine microfluidic three-dimensional (3D) cell culture with the principle of vasculogenic self-assembly to engineer perfusable 3D microvascular beds in vitro . Our system is created in a micropatterned hydrogel construct housed in an elastomeric microdevice that enables coculture of primary human vascular endothelial cells and fibroblasts to achieve de novo formation, anastomosis, and controlled perfusion of 3D vascular networks. An open-top chamber design adopted in this hybrid platform also makes it possible to integrate the microengineered 3D vasculature with other cell types to recapitulate organ-specific cellular heterogeneity and structural organization of vascularized human tissues. Using these capabilities, we developed stem cell-derived microphysiological models of vascularized human adipose tissue and the blood-retinal barrier. Our approach was also leveraged to construct

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

Browse all related research

Filter the research library by this study's title keywords, author, or publication year.