3B's Research Group, I3Bs - Research Institute on Biomaterials, Biodegradables and Biomimetics, University of Minho, Headquarters of the European Institute of Excellence on Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Barco, Guimarães, Portugal.
ICVS/3B's - PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga, Guimarães, Portugal.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2020;1230:97-119. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-36588-2_7.
Angiogenesis is a natural and vital phenomenon of neovascularization that occurs from pre-existing vasculature, being present in many physiological processes, namely in development, reproduction and regeneration. Being a highly dynamic and tightly regulated process, its abnormal expression can be on the basis of several pathologies. For that reason, angiogenesis has been a subject of major interest among the scientific community, being transverse to different areas and founding particular attention in tissue engineering and cancer research fields. Microfluidics has emerged as a powerful tool for modelling this phenomenon, thereby surpassing the limitations associated to conventional angiogenic models. Holding a tremendous flexibility in terms of experimental design towards a specific goal, microfluidic systems can offer an unlimited number of opportunities for investigating angiogenesis in many relevant scenarios, namely from its fundamental comprehension in normal physiological processes to the identification and testing of new therapeutic targets involved on pathological angiogenesis. Additionally, microvascular 3D in vitro models are now opening up new prospects in different fields, being used for investigating and establishing guidelines for the development of next generation of 3D functional vascularized grafts. The promising applications of this emerging technology in angiogenesis studies are herein overviewed, encompassing fundamental and applied research.
血管生成是一种新血管形成的自然和重要的现象，它源自预先存在的脉管系统，存在于许多生理过程中，即在发育、繁殖和再生中。作为一个高度动态和严格调节的过程，其异常表达可能是基于几种病理学的基础上。因此，血管生成一直是科学界关注的主要课题之一，它涉及到不同的领域，并在组织工程和癌症研究领域引起了特别关注。微流控技术已经成为模拟这种现象的有力工具，从而克服了传统血管生成模型的局限性。微流控系统在针对特定目标的实验设计方面具有巨大的灵活性，为研究多种相关场景中的血管生成提供了无限的机会，从正常生理过程中对血管生成的基本理解到鉴定和测试病理性血管生成中涉及的新治疗靶点。此外，微血管 3D 体外模型现在在不同领域开辟了新的前景，用于研究和建立下一代 3D 功能血管化移植物的开发指南。本文综述了这一新兴技术在血管生成研究中的应用，包括基础研究和应用研究。
