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REVIEW article

Front. Cell Dev. Biol.
Sec. Molecular and Cellular Pathology
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcell.2024.1494911
This article is part of the Research Topic Vascular- and Immuno-Metabolism as Drivers of Cardiovascular Disease: Insights Obtained from Omics Approaches View all 8 articles

Multi-cellular 3D models to study myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 Department of Experimental Vascular Medicine, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • 2 Amsterdam Cardiovascular Sciences, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • 3 Laboratory of Angiogenesis and Vascular Metabolism, VIB KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology, Leuven, Belgium
  • 4 Laboratory of Angiogenesis and Vascular Metabolism, Department of Oncology, KU Leuven and Leuven Cancer Institute (LKI), Belgium., Leuven, Belgium

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Coronary heart disease is a major global health threat, with acute myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) being a major contributor to myocardial damage following an ischemic event. IRI occurs when blood flow to ischemic tissues is restored and exacerbates the cellular damage caused by ischemia/hypoxia. While animal studies investigating IRI have provided valuable insights, their translation into clinical outcomes has been limited and translation into medical practice remains cumbersome. Recent advancements in engineered three-dimensional human in vitro models could offer a promising avenue to bridge the 'therapeutic valley of death' from bench to bedside, enhancing the understanding of IRI pathology. This review summarises the current state-of-the-art of cardiovascular 3D models, including spheroids, organoids, engineered cardiac microtissues and organ-on-a-chip systems. We provide an overview of their advantages and limitations in the context of IRI, with a particular emphasis on the crucial roles of cell-cell communication and the multi-omic approaches to enhance our understanding on the pathophysiological processes involved in IRI and its treatment. Finally, we discuss currently available multi-cellular human 3D models of IRI.

    Keywords: Ischemia - reperfusion, 3D models, Organoids, Cardiac tissue, Endothelia cell, Cardiomyocite

    Received: 11 Sep 2024; Accepted: 04 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Peletier, Zhang, Klein and Kroon. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jeffrey Kroon, Department of Experimental Vascular Medicine, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, 22660, Netherlands

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.