Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research ›› 2025, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (13): 2774-2783.doi: 10.12307/2025.052

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Construction strategy for vascularization of organoids

Liu Mingyu1, Fan Wenjuan2   

  1. 1Hainan Medical University, Haikou 571199, Hainan Province, China; 2Louhe Medical College, Luohe 462002, Henan Province, China
  • Received:2024-01-29 Accepted:2024-03-25 Online:2025-05-08 Published:2024-09-11
  • Contact: Fan Wenjuan, PhD, Associate professor, Louhe Medical College, Luohe 462002, Henan Province, China
  • About author:Liu Mingyu, Hainan Medical University, Haikou 571199, Hainan Province, China
  • Supported by:
    Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province, No. 222300420246 (to FWJ); Postdoctoral Scientific Research Project of Luohe Medical College, No. PR20210001 (to FWJ)

Abstract: BACKGROUND: The effective promotion of internal angiogenesis in organoids is a current focal issue in organoid culture. Vascularized organoids, as a newly developed bioculture technology, have significant research and application value in the study of living tissue development, disease formation mechanisms, tissue replacement therapy, and drug screening.
OBJECTIVE: To summarize the methods or strategies for vascularization of organoids in recent years, analyze the formation mechanism of vascularization of organoids and the construction strategies, with a view to providing reliable ideas for more in-depth study of the mechanism of organoid genesis and for clinical translation.
METHODS: The authors utilized the PubMed and CNKI databases for related formation collection. The keywords were “organoids, vascularization, vascular, vascular development, vessel” in Chinese and English. Finally, 77 papers were included for summarization.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) The mechanism of vascularization formation in organoid organs involves three key factors, namely seed cells, cytokines, and extracellular matrix. Seed cells provide the essential cell source for vascularized organoids; cytokines play an important role in guiding angiogenesis within organoids, and the extracellular matrix provides an external growth environment for vascular cells, promoting the occurrence of vascularized organoids. (2) The construction strategies of vascularized organoids include cell self-reorganization, microvascular fragment infiltration, transplantation into host, and microfluidic chip. In vitro induction of pluripotent stem cells to differentiate into endothelial progenitor cells can integrate with adjacent tissues and have the potential for angiogenesis, so pluripotent stem cells can be used to construct vascularized organoids by self-reorganization. Microvascular fragments retain their cellular complexity, natural structure, and phenotypic plasticity, which is more conducive to simulating natural microvessels and promoting vascularization of organoids. Transplantation into host is currently the best method to achieve complete blood perfusion in organoids, while microfluidic chip provides a solution for achieving extracorporeal blood supply in organoids. (3) Multiple construction strategies of organoid such as co-differentiation of multiple stem cell types, precise regulation of signaling molecules, microvascular infiltration, and in vivo host transplantation, have introduced vascular components into organoids to some extent, making them closer to the corresponding tissues in terms of function and maturity. However, the challenge of achieving perfusion remains, and so far, only in vivo transplantation in hosts has enabled effective perfusion in organoids. Therefore, organoids still face numerous challenges in terms of vascularization.

Key words: organoids, vascularization, angiogenesis, self-organization, co-culture, seed cell, in vivo transplantation, endothelial cell, stem cell, review

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