Recent Progress in the Development of Microfluidic Vascular Models

Abstract

The blood vessel is part of the circulatory system, and systemic circulation provides the blood supply to all tissues. Arteries are pathways through which the blood is carried, and the capillaries have a key role in material exchange to maintain the tissue environment. Blood vessels have structures appropriate for their functions, and their sizes and cell types are different. In this review, we introduced recent studies of the microfluidic vascular models. The model structures are classified mainly as poly(dimethylsiloxane) and hydrogel microchannels and self-assembled networks. Basic phenomena and functions were realized in vascular models, including fluid shear stress, cell strain, interstitial flow, endothelial permeation, angiogenesis, and thrombosis. In some models, endothelial cells were co-cultured with smooth muscle cells, pericytes, and fibroblasts in an extracellular matrix. Examples of vascular models involving the brain, lung, liver, kidney, placenta, and cancer were also introduced.

A Microfluidic Platform Based on Robust Gas and Liquid Exchange for Long-term Culturing of Explanted Tissues

“…Compared with conventional setups, such as culturing dishes, microfluidic devices have advantages for enhanced deliveries of nutrients and gases to tissues, quick exchanges of culturing media, programable culturing operations, and stable observations under a microscope. [1][2][3][4] Thus, microfluidic devices have been incorporated in studies on biological tissues.…”

“…Some studies have described perfusion on microfluidic devices that include microchannel, micropattern or supportive microstructures. 3,4,13 Microfluidic devices with a simple microchannel structure could precisely control the flow of the culture medium, although the sustainable culture period was limited to a few days. 14 Supportive microstructures, for example, micropillars for holding an explanted tissue at the surface level of the culture medium 15 and microneedles for modifying flow of culture medium 11,16,17 were also reported.…”

“…11 Organ-on-chips are also alternative culturing platforms in which models of biological organs are constructed. These devices have advantages in the patterning of cells to investigate the complex nature of target organs such as vascular models in healthy 4 and diseased 19 states, kidney, 20 and gastrointestinal tract. 21 Although an appropriate perfusion of culture medium elongates the cell viability in these devices, there are technical challenges concerning in device fabrications and operations, such as cell seeding in microfluidic channels.…”

Influence of Culture Conditions on Cell Proliferation in a Microfluidic Channel

“…A microfluidic device is a new cell culture tool that can provide complex microscale structures with well-controlled parameters to mimic organ structures and the physical environment in the body. [1][2][3][4][5] Moreover, the development of a microfluidic organ model, named organ-on-a-chip, has become a widely used tool for bioassays, and has proven to be especially useful for drug development as an alternative approach to animal testing, emerging as a major topic in bioanalytical chemistry. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Since a microchannel has a higher culture area-to-volume ratio compared to a conventional cell culture dish, traditional cell culture techniques cannot be directly transferred to a microfluidic cell culture system.…”

A Microfluidic Cell Stretch Device to Investigate the Effects of Stretching Stress on Artery Smooth Muscle Cell Proliferation in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

“…Recently, microfluidic cell culture platforms mimicking vascular flow or vascular constriction have been developed [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. A microdevice with a stretchable poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) membrane as a cell culture substrate, to which cyclic stimulation of circumferential strain was added, has been developed for vascular research [14].…”