Urbanczyk Max, Zbinden Aline, Schenke-Layland Katja
Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Dept. for Medical Technologies and Regenerative Medicine, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
Department of Immunology, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZA Leiden, the Netherlands.
Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2022 Jul;186:114323. doi: 10.1016/j.addr.2022.114323. Epub 2022 May 11.
Endothelial cells (ECs) are a key cellular component of the vascular system as they form the inner lining of the blood vessels. Recent findings highlight that ECs express extensive phenotypic heterogenicity when following the vascular tree from the major vasculature down to the organ capillaries. However, in vitro models, used for drug development and testing, or to study the role of ECs in health and disease, rarely acknowledge this EC heterogenicity. In this review, we highlight the main differences between different EC types, briefly summarize their different characteristics and focus on the use of ECs in in vitro models. We introduce different approaches on how ECs can be utilized in co-culture test systems in the field of brain, pancreas, and liver research to study the role of the endothelium in health and disease. Finally, we discuss potential improvements to current state-of-the-art in vitro models and future directions.
内皮细胞（ECs）是血管系统的关键细胞组成部分，因为它们构成了血管的内膜。最近的研究结果表明，当沿着血管树从主要脉管系统向下到器官毛细血管时，内皮细胞表现出广泛的表型异质性。然而，用于药物开发和测试，或研究内皮细胞在健康和疾病中作用的体外模型，很少考虑到这种内皮细胞的异质性。在这篇综述中，我们强调了不同类型内皮细胞之间的主要差异，简要总结了它们的不同特征，并重点关注内皮细胞在体外模型中的应用。我们介绍了在脑、胰腺和肝脏研究领域中，如何在内皮细胞共培养测试系统中利用内皮细胞来研究内皮细胞在健康和疾病中的作用的不同方法。最后，我们讨论了对当前最先进的体外模型的潜在改进和未来方向。
