Recent Progress in in vitro Models for Atherosclerosis Studies

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Jun Chen, University of Alabama Birmingham; Xixi Zhang, University of Alabama Birmingham; Reid Millican, Endomimetics LLC; Tyler Lynd, University of Alabama Birmingham; Manas Gangasani, University of Alabama Birmingham; Shubh Malhotra, University of Alabama Birmingham; Jennifer Sherwood, Endomimetics LLC; Patrick T Hwang, Endomimetics LLC; Younghye Cho, University of Alabama Birmingham; Brigitta C Brott, University of Alabama Birmingham; Gangjian Qin, University of Alabama Birmingham; Hanjoong Jo, Emory University; Young Yoon, Emory University; Ho-Wook Jun, University of Alabama Birmingham
• Language: English
• Date: 2022-01-27
• Publisher: FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2022 Chen, Zhang, Millican, Lynd, Gangasani, Malhotra, Sherwood, Hwang, Cho, Brott, Qin, Jo, Yoon and Jun.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcvm.2021.790529
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: FRONTIERS IN CARDIOVASCULAR MEDICINE
• Volume: 8
• Start Page: 790529
• End Page: 790529
• Grant/Funding Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Institutes of Health (1R01HL125391 to H-WJ), Alabama Research and Development Enhancement Fund (1ARDEF22 09 to H-WJ), American Heart Association (18POST34080260 to JC and 20PRE35210599 to XZ), National Institutes of Health (1R01HL150887 to Y-sY), and National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (Nos. 2020R1A2C3003784 and 2020M3A9I4038454 to Y-sY).
• Keywords: PHENOTYPIC MODULATION; SPHEROID CULTURE; tissue-engineered blood vessels; EXTRACELLULAR-MATRIX; MACROPHAGE DIFFERENTIATION; Science & Technology; GROWTH FACTOR-BB; disease models; SMOOTH-MUSCLE-CELLS; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; ARTERY ENDOTHELIAL-CELLS; ON-A-CHIP; Cardiovascular System & Cardiology; Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems; MONOCYTE ADHESION; microfluidic chips; HUMAN ADIPOSE-TISSUE; in vitro models and methods; atherosclerosis
• Research Categories: Engineering, Biomedical

Abstract

Atherosclerosis is the primary cause of hardening and narrowing arteries, leading to cardiovascular disease accounting for the high mortality in the United States. For developing effective treatments for atherosclerosis, considerable efforts have been devoted to developing in vitro models. Compared to animal models, in vitro models can provide great opportunities to obtain data more efficiently, economically. Therefore, this review discusses the recent progress in in vitro models for atherosclerosis studies, including traditional two-dimensional (2D) systems cultured on the tissue culture plate, 2D cell sheets, and recently emerged microfluidic chip models with 2D culture. In addition, advanced in vitro three-dimensional models such as spheroids, cell-laden hydrogel constructs, tissue-engineered blood vessels, and vessel-on-a-chip will also be covered. Moreover, the functions of these models are also summarized along with model discussion. Lastly, the future perspectives of this field are discussed.