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The conception of vascularized organ-on-a-chip models provides researchers with the ability to supply controlled biological and physical cues that simulate the in vivo dynamic microphysiological environment of native blood vessels. The intention of this niche research area is to improve our understanding of the role of the vasculature in health or disease progression in vitro by allowing researchers to monitor angiogenic responses and cell-cell or cell-matrix interactions in real time. This review offers a comprehensive overview of the essential elements, including cells, biomaterials, microenvironmental factors, microfluidic chip design, and standard validation procedures that currently govern angiogenesis-on-a-chip assemblies. In addition, we emphasize the importance of incorporating a microvasculature component into organ-on-chip devices in critical biomedical research areas, such as tissue engineering, drug discovery, and disease modeling. Ultimately, advances in this area of research could provide innovative solutions and a personalized approach to ongoing medical challenges.

Tissue engineering primarily aimed to alleviate the insufficiency of organ donations worldwide. Nonetheless, the survival of the engineered tissue is often compromised due to the complexity of the natural organ architectures, especially the vascular system inside the organ, which allows food-waste transfer. Thus, vascularization within the engineered tissue is of paramount importance. A critical aspect of this endeavor is the ability to replicate the intricacies of the extracellular matrix and promote the formation of functional vascular networks within engineered constructs. In this study, human adipose-derived stem cells (hADSCs) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were cocultured in different types of gelatin methacrylate (GelMA). In brief, pro-angiogenic signaling growth factors (GFs), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF 165 ) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), were conjugated onto GelMA via an EDC/NHS coupling reaction. The GelMA hydrogels conjugated with VEGF 165 (GelMA@VEGF 165 ) and bFGF (GelMA@bFGF) showed marginal changes in the chemical and physical characteristics of the GelMA hydrogels. Moreover, the conjugation of these growth factors demonstrated improved cell viability and cell proliferation within the hydrogel construct. Additionally, vascular-like network formation was observed predominantly on GelMA@GrowthFactor (GelMA@GF) hydrogels, particularly on GelMA@bFGF. This study suggests that growth factor-conjugated GelMA hydrogels would be a promising biomaterial for 3D vascular tissue engineering.

The purpose of tissue engineering is to reconstruct parts of injured tissues and to resolve the shortage of organ donations. However, the main concern is the limited size of engineered tissue due to insufficient oxygen and nutrition distribution in large three-dimensional (3D) tissue constructs. To provide better support for cells inside the scaffolds, the vascularization of blood vessels within the scaffold could be a solution. This study compared the effects of different culturing systems using human adipose tissue-derived stem/stromal cells (ASCs), human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), and coculture of ASCs and HUVECs in 3D-bioprinted gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) hydrogel constructs. The in vitro results showed that the number of live cells was highest in the coculture of ASCs and HUVECs in the GelMA hydrogel after culturing for 21 days. Additionally, the tubular structure was the most abundant in the GelMA hydrogel, containing both ASCs and HUVECs. In the in vivo test, blood vessels were present in both the HUVECs and the coculture of ASCs and HUVECs hydrogels implanted in mice. However, the blood vessel density was the highest in the HUVEC and ASC coculture groups. These findings indicate that the 3D-bioprinted GelMA hydrogel coculture system could be a promising biomaterial for large tissue engineering applications.

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting, or additive manufacturing, is a rapid fabrication technique with the foremost objective of creating biomimetic tissue and organ replacements in hopes of restoring normal tissue function and structure. Generating the engineered organs with an infrastructure that is similar to that of the real organs can be beneficial to simulate the functional organs that work inside our bodies. Photopolymerization-based 3D bioprinting, or photocuring, has emerged as a promising method in engineering biomimetic tissues due to its simplicity, and noninvasive and spatially controllable approach. In this review, we investigated types of 3D printers, mainstream materials, photoinitiators, phototoxicity, and selected tissue engineering applications of 3D photopolymerization bioprinting.

Bioactive glass (BG) has been widely employed in the field of bone tissue engineering owing to its osteoconductive properties. These properties increase the stiffness and bioactivity of polymeric hydrogels, making them ideal for the repair, replacement, and regeneration of damaged bones. In this study, we investigated the effects of incorporating silanized 45S5 bioactive glass (Si-BG) into gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) hydrogel (GelMA/Si-BG) for potential bone tissue engineering. Our findings revealed that crosslinking GelMA with Si-BG had a striking increase in bioactivity with and without osteogenic induction of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) when compared to GelMA/BG hydrogels. Meanwhile, both GelMA/Si-BG and GelMA/BG hydrogels were able to maintain the cell viability of hMSC for up to 14 days. Additionally, GelMA/Si-BG hydrogels were shown to have a significantly higher compressive modulus than GelMA/BG hydrogels. This study has demonstrated the introduction of silanized 45S5 BG into GelMA hydrogel bioactivity and mechanical properties of GelMA hydrogels, exemplifying the potential application of silanization of BG in bone tissue engineering., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a promising cancer treatment that eliminates tumor cells by triggering high-energy radiation within cancer cells. Aim: In vivo evaluation of poly(vinyl alcohol)/boric acid crosslinked nanoparticles (PVA/BA NPs) for BNCT. Materials & methods: PVA/BA NPs were synthesized and intravenously injected into tumor-bearing mice for BNCT. Results: The in vitro boron uptake of PVA/BA NPs in tumor cells was 70-fold higher than the required boron uptake for successful BNCT. In an in vivo study, PVA/BA NPs showed a 44.29% reduction in tumor size compared with clinically used boronophenylalanine for oral cancer in a murine model. Conclusion: PVA/BA NPs exhibited effective therapeutic results for oral cancer treatments in BNCT.

To recreate or substitute tissue in vivo is a complicated endeavor that requires biomaterials that can mimic the natural tissue environment. Gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) is created through covalent bonding of naturally derived polymer gelatin and methacrylic groups. Due to its biocompatibility, GelMA receives a lot of attention in the tissue engineering research field. Additionally, GelMA has versatile physical properties that allow a broad range of modifications to enhance the interaction between the material and the cells. In this review, we look at recent modifications of GelMA with naturally derived polymers, nanomaterials, and growth factors, focusing on recent developments for vascular tissue engineering and wound healing applications. Compared to polymers and nanoparticles, the modifications that embed growth factors show better mechanical properties and better cell migration, stimulating vascular development and a structure comparable to the natural-extracellular matrix.

Background: Due to the noninvasive nature of boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT), it is considered a promising cancer treatment method. Aim: To investigate whether polyvinyl alcohol/boric acid crosslinked nanoparticles (PVA/BA NPs) are an efficient delivery system for BNCT. Materials & methods: PVA/BA NPs were synthesized and cocultured with brain and oral cancers cells for BNCT. Results: PVA/BA NPs had a boron-loading capacity of 7.83 ± 1.75 w/w%. They accumulated in brain and oral cancers cells at least threefold more than in fibroblasts and macrophages. The IC 50  values of the brain and oral cancers cells were at least ninefold and sixfold lower than those of fibroblasts and macrophages, respectively. Conclusion: Theoretically, PVA/BA NPs target brain and oral cancers cells and could offer improved therapeutic outcomes of BNCT.

Microwell arrays have emerged as three-dimensional substrates for cell culture due to their simplicity of fabrication and promise for high-throughput applications such as 3D cell-based assays for drug screening. To date, most microwells have had cylindrical geometries. Motivated by our previous findings that cells display 3D physiological characteristics when grown in the spherical micropores of monodisperse foam scaffolds (Lee et al 2013 Integr. Biol. 5 1447-55 and Lin et al 2011 Soft Matter 7 10010-6), here we engineered novel microwells shaped as spherical caps with obtuse polar angles, yielding narrow apertures. When used as bare substrates, these microwells were suitable for culturing cell spheroids; the narrow apertures sterically hindered unattached cultured cells from rolling out of microwells under agitation. When only the walls of the microwell were conjugated with extracellular matrix proteins, cells remained confined in the microwells. Epithelial cells proliferated and burst out of the aperture, and cell polarity was oriented based on the distribution of extracellular matrix proteins in the microwells. Surprisingly, single fibroblast cells in spherical wells of various diameters (40-100 μm) underwent cell-cycle arrest, while cells in circular cylindrical microwells continued to proliferate. Spatial confinement was not sufficient to cause cell-cycle arrest; however, confinement in a constant negative-curvature microenvironment led to cell-cycle arrest. Overall, these investigations demonstrate that this spherical microwell substrate constitutes a novel basic research tool for elucidating how cells respond to dimensionality and microenvironment with radii of curvature at the cellular length scale.