Recapitulating the Vasculature Using Organ-On-Chip Technology

Abstract

The development of Vasculature-on-Chip has progressed rapidly over the last decade and recently, a wealth of fabrication possibilities has emerged that can be used for engineering vessels on a chip. All these fabrication methods have their own advantages and disadvantages but, more importantly, the capability of recapitulating the in vivo vasculature differs greatly between them. The first part of this review discusses the biological background of the in vivo vasculature and all the associated processes. We then evaluate the biological relevance of different fabrication methods proposed for Vasculature-on-Chip, we indicate their possibilities and limitations, and we assess which fabrication methods are capable of recapitulating the intrinsic complexity of the vasculature. This review illustrates the complexity involved in developing in vitro vasculature and provides an overview of fabrication methods for Vasculature-on-Chip in relation to the biological relevance of such methods.

Airway and Alveoli Organoids as Valuable Research Tools in COVID-19

“…Similarly, there is increasing investigation using artificially assembled microfluidic approaches that enable the cocultivation with capillary-like structures, as well as exposure to immune cells, with the advantage of also presenting exposure to “blood” flow. 111 , 112 To date, there are reports of airway microfluidic cultures, cocultivated with vascular and immune cells, for posterior exposure to pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2. 38 , 102 − 104 The microfluidic upside is that the blood-like tissue is pumped throughout the culture system, using a fluid flow, simulating the in vivo situation.…”

“… 38 , 102 − 104 The microfluidic upside is that the blood-like tissue is pumped throughout the culture system, using a fluid flow, simulating the in vivo situation. 111 , 112 There are reports of the establishment of distal airway microfluidic models, or specifically alveolar cultures, cocultivated with microvasculature 102 , 104 and immune cells 102 − 104 on a chip, for further SARS-CoV-2 exposure and investigation. The results indicate the important involvement of immune responses through the alveolar barrier, showing that the microfluidic system resembles in vivo situations and could be valid for research that requires interaction to blood and immune cells.…”

Vascularisation of pluripotent stem cell–derived myocardium: biomechanical insights for physiological relevance in cardiac tissue engineering

“…Microfluidic pumps connected to OOCs subject 2D or 3D cultures to precisely control media perfusion and haemodynamic forces, enabling the reproduction of biomimetic flow profiles. For vascular tissue engineering, microfluidic models have allowed delivery of well-defined physical and biochemical stimuli (angiogenic growth factors) to induce spontaneous assembly of human ECs into fully perfusable capillary networks [128,154]. Such microvasculature is highly biomimetic, compatible with high-resolution microscopy for haemodynamic analysis, and can be combined with organ-or disease-specific parenchymal cells to model specific microdomains, i.e.…”

In Vitro Strategies to Vascularize 3D Physiologically Relevant Models

“…[6,48] Comprehensive reviews on the topic are available. [1,17,48,60,61] In this section, we provide an overview of the main prevascularization patterning strategies used for fabricating vascularized microfluidic platforms, focusing on relevant organ-on-a-chip models integrating vasculature and discussing the current bottlenecks of this approach. Soft Lithography Techniques: The mimicry of the vascular interface in vitro has been mainly achieved by using microfluidic platforms produced by soft lithography.…”