Microfabrication of elastomeric polymers for organ-on-a-chip engineering and injectable tissues

Recent advances in human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) biology enable derivation of essentially any cell type in the human body, and development of three-dimensional (3D) tissue models for drug discovery, safety testing, disease modelling and regenerative medicine applications. However, limitations related to cell maturation, vascularization, cellular fidelity and inter-organ communication still remain. Relying on an engineering approach, microfluidics and microfabrication techniques our laboratory has developed new technologies aimed at overcoming them. Since native heart tissue is unable to regenerate after injury, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) represent a promising source for human cardiomyocytes. Here, biological wire (Biowire) technology will be described, developed to specifically enhance maturation levels of hPSC based cardiac tissues, by controlling tissue geometry and electrical field stimulation regime (Nunes et al Nature Methods 2013). We will describe new applications of the Biowire technology in engineering a specifically atrial and specifically ventricular cardiac tissues, safety testing of small molecule kinase inhibitors, potential new cancer drugs, and modelling of left ventricular hypertrophy using patient derived cells. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Biomimetic approach to cardiac tissue engineering

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, 2004."September 2004."Includes bibliographical references.(cont.) biochemical and morphological properties in the pretreated group. Finally, in order to mimic capillary structure cardiac fibroblasts and myocytes were co-cultured on a scaffold with a parallel channel array that was perfused with culture medium supplemented with synthetic oxygen carrier (PFC emulsion). Presence of the PFC emulsion resulted in significantly higher cell density and improved contractile properties compared to the constructs cultivated in the culture medium alone, by increasing total oxygen content and effective diffusivity.Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the Western world. Tissue engineering may offer alternative treatment options or suitable models for studies of normal and pathological cardiac tissue function in vitro. Current tissue engineering approaches have been limited by diffusional oxygen supply, lack of physical stimuli and absence of multiple cell types characteristic of the native myocardium. We hypothesized that functional, clinically sized (1-5 mm thick), compact cardiac constructs with physiologic cell densities can be engineered in vitro by mimicking cell microenvironment present in the native myocardium in vivo. Since cardiac myocytes have limited ability to proliferate we developed methods of seeding cells at high densities while maintaining cell viability. Cultivation of cardiac constructs in the presence of convective-diffusive oxygen transport in perfusion bioreactors, maintained aerobic cell metabolism, viability and uniform distribution of cells expressing cardiac markers. To improve cell morphology and tissue assembly cardiac constructs were cultivated with electrical stimulation of contraction in a physiologically relevant regime. Electrical stimulation enabled formation of tissue with elongated cells aligned in parallel and with organized ultrastructure remarkably similar to the one present in the native heart. To investigate the effect of multiple cell types on the properties of engineered cardiac tissue cardiac fibroblasts and cardiac myocytes were cultivated synchronously, separately or serially (pretreatment of scaffolds with fibroblasts followed by the addition of myocytes). Presence of fibroblasts remarkably improved contractile response of the engineered cardiac constructs with the superiorby Milica Radisic.Ph.D

Elastomeric droplet generation of vascularized cardiac spheroids for the use of high-throughput drugs screening

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Application of electrical stimulation for functional tissue engineering in vitro and in vivo

The present invention provides new methods for the in vitro preparation of bioartificial tissue equivalents and their enhanced integration after implantation in vivo. These methods include submitting a tissue construct to a biomimetic electrical stimulation during cultivation in vitro to improve its structural and functional properties, and/or in vivo, after implantation of the construct, to enhance its integration with host tissue and increase cell survival and functionality. The inventive methods are particularly useful for the production of bioartificial equivalents and/or the repair and replacement of native tissues that contain electrically excitable cells and are subject to electrical stimulation in vivo, such as, for example, cardiac muscle tissue, striated skeletal muscle tissue, smooth muscle tissue, bone, vasculature, and nerve tissue

Biofabrication Enables Efficient Interrogation and Optimization of Sequential Culture of Endothelial Cells, Fibroblasts, and Cardiomyocytes for Formation of Vascular Cords in Cardiac Tissue Engineering

Biofabrication of living structures with desired topology and functionality requires the interdisciplinary effort of practitioners of the physical, life and engineering sciences. Such efforts are being undertaken in many laboratories around the world. Numerous approaches are pursued, such as those based on the use of natural or artificial scaffolds, decellularized cadaveric extracellular matrices and, most lately, bioprinting. To be successful in this endeavor, it is crucial to provide in vitro micro-environmental clues for the cells resembling those in the organism. Therefore, scaffolds, populated with differentiated cells or stem cells, of increasing complexity and sophistication are being fabricated. However, no matter how sophisticated scaffolds are, they can cause problems stemming from their degradation, eliciting immunogenic reactions and other a priori unforeseen complications. It is also being realized that ultimately the best approach might be to rely on the self-assembly and self-organizing properties of cells and tissues and the innate regenerative capability of the organism itself, not just simply prepare tissue and organ structures in vitro followed by their implantation. Here we briefly review the different strategies for the fabrication of three-dimensional biological structures, in particular bioprinting. We detail a fully biological, scaffoldless, print-based engineering approach that uses self-assembling multicellular units as bio-ink particles and employs early developmental morphogenetic principles, such as cell sorting and tissue fusion

Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Secretion by Nonmyocytes Modulates Connexin-43 Levels in Cardiac Organoids

We previously showed that the sequential, but not simultaneous, culture of endothelial cells (ECs), fibroblasts (FBs), and cardiomyocytes (CMs) resulted in elongated, beating cardiac organoids. We hypothesized that the expression of Cx43 and contractile function are mediated by vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) released by nonmyocytes during the preculture period. Cardiac organoids (200 μm diameter) were cultivated in microchannels to enable rapid screening. Three experimental groups were formed: (i) Simultaneous Preculture (ECs+FBs for 48 h, followed by CMs), (ii) Sequential Preculture (ECs for 24 h, FBs for 24 h, followed by CMs), and (iii) Simultaneous Triculture (ECs+FBs+CMs). Controls included CMs only, FBs only, and ECs only groups, and preculture with ECs only or FBs only. The highest VEGF levels were found in the Preculture groups [Simultaneous Preculture, 8.9 plus or minus 2.7 ng/(mL times h−1); Sequential Preculture, 16.6 plus or minus 3.4 ng/(mL times h−1)], as compared with Simultaneous Triculture where VEGF was not detectable, as shown by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Analytical flow cytometry showed that VEGFR2 was expressed by ECs (86% plus or minus 2 VEGFR2+), FBs (44% plus or minus 1 VEGFR2+), and CMs (49% plus or minus 2 VEGFR2+), showing that all three cell types were capable of responding to changes in VEGF. Addition of anti-VEGF neutralizing IgG (0.4 μg/mL) to Simultaneous Preculture resulted in 3-fold decrease in Cx43 mRNA and 1.5-fold decrease in Cx43 protein, while Simultaneous Triculture supplemented with VEGF ligand (30 ng/mL) had a threefold increase in Cx43 mRNA and a twofold increase in Cx43 protein. Addition of a small molecule inhibitor of the VEGFR2 receptor (19.4 nM) to Sequential Preculture caused a 1.4-fold decrease in Cx43 mRNA and a 4.1-fold decrease in Cx43 protein. Cx43 was localized within CMs, and not within FBs or ECs. Enriched CM organoids and Sequential Preculture organoids grown in the presence of VEGFR2 inhibitor displayed low levels of Cx43 and poor functional properties. Taken together, these results suggest that endogenous VEGF-VEGFR2 signaling enhanced Cx43 expression and cardiac function in engineered cardiac organoids

QHREDGS Enhances Tube Formation, Metabolism and Survival of Endothelial Cells in Collagen-Chitosan Hydrogels

Cell survival in complex, vascularized tissues, has been implicated as a major bottleneck in advancement of therapies based on cardiac tissue engineering. This limitation motivates the search for small, inexpensive molecules that would simultaneously be cardio-protective and vasculogenic. Here, we present peptide sequence QHREDGS, based upon the fibrinogen-like domain of angiopoietin-1, as a prime candidate molecule. We demonstrated previously that QHREDGS improved cardiomyocyte metabolism and mitigated serum starved apoptosis. In this paper we further demonstrate the potency of QHREDGS in its ability to enhance endothelial cell survival, metabolism and tube formation. When endothelial cells were exposed to the soluble form of QHREDGS, improvements in endothelial cell barrier functionality, nitric oxide production and cell metabolism (ATP levels) in serum starved conditions were found. The functionality of the peptide was then examined when conjugated to collagen-chitosan hydrogel, a potential carrier for in vivo application. The presence of the peptide in the hydrogel mitigated paclitaxel induced apoptosis of endothelial cells in a dose dependent manner. Furthermore, the peptide modified hydrogels stimulated tube-like structure formation of encapsulated endothelial cells. When integrin αvβ3 or α5β1were antibody blocked during cell encapsulation in peptide modified hydrogels, tube formation was abolished. Therefore, the dual protective nature of the novel peptide QHREDGS may position this peptide as an appealing augmentation for collagen-chitosan hydrogels that could be used for biomaterial delivered cell therapies in the settings of myocardial infarction

Engineered muscle tissues for disease modeling and drug screening applications

Animal models have been the main resources for drug discovery and prediction of drugs’ pharmacokinetic responses in the body. However, noticeable drawbacks associated with animal models include high cost, low reproducibility, low physiological similarity to humans, and ethical problems. Engineered tissue models have recently emerged as an alternative or substitute for animal models in drug discovery and testing and disease modeling. In this review, we focus on skeletal muscle and cardiac muscle tissues by first describing their characterization and physiology. Major fabrication technologies (i.e., electrospinning, bioprinting, dielectrophoresis, textile technology, and microfluidics) to make functional muscle tissues are then described. Finally, currently used muscle tissue models in drug screening are reviewed and discusse