Capalbo Solana, Polyakova Annabella, El Imane Zayd, Khan Izza, Kawai Toshihisa, Shindo Satoru, Salinas Manuel
Nova Southeastern University, College of Computing and Engineering, Davie, FL, USA.
Archbishop McCarthy High School, Southwest Ranches, FL, USA.
Inflammation. 2025 Feb 4. doi: 10.1007/s10753-024-02231-y.
The field of vascular biology has advanced significantly with bioreactor systems, which have become essential tools for investigating the mechanisms of vascular inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis, vasculitis, and aneurysms. These bioreactors allow researchers to recreate specific vascular environments, providing a controlled setting for studying the effects of blood flow, mechanical stress, and biochemical factors on vascular tissues. Through these systems, researchers can explore how physical and chemical cues contribute to disease processes and cellular responses, enhancing our understanding of disease progression. Bioreactor studies have demonstrated that hemodynamic forces, particularly shear stress, influence endothelial cell behavior and play a role in vascular pathologies. For instance, in atherosclerosis, disturbed flow patterns are associated with endothelial dysfunction and plaque development. By simulating these conditions, bioreactors provide insight into the effects of mechanical forces on vascular wall biology, highlighting how altered flow can contribute to disease. Bioreactors also support studies on the impacts of pulsatile flow and circumferential stress, allowing a closer approximation of physiological environments. Beyond flow dynamics, these systems facilitate investigation into how vascular cells respond to biochemical signals, inflammatory markers, and therapeutic interventions. This integrated approach allows for a more complete picture of the factors involved in vascular disease. Recent advancements, such as vessel-on-a-chip models and artery-mimicking setups, extend the capabilities of bioreactors by enabling researchers to model a broader range of conditions relevant to human physiology. In vasculitis studies, bioreactors help explore immune interactions with endothelial cells, especially with stem cell-derived cells that replicate patient-specific responses. Bioreactors also play a role in vascular tissue engineering, particularly in assessing materials and scaffold-free designs that may reduce inflammation in vascular grafts. These efforts contribute to the ongoing search for more compatible graft materials, with the potential to improve outcomes in clinical applications. This review provides a comprehensive overview of bioreactor technologies applied in vascular inflammation research, examining their designs, applications, and contributions to disease modeling. Organized into sections on bioreactor configurations, flow dynamics, biochemical interactions, and tissue engineering applications, the review concludes by discussing recent innovations and highlighting directions for future research, underscoring the role of bioreactors in bridging laboratory studies with insights into vascular disease.
生物反应器系统极大地推动了血管生物学领域的发展，这些系统已成为研究动脉粥样硬化、血管炎和动脉瘤等血管炎性疾病发病机制的重要工具。这些生物反应器使研究人员能够重现特定的血管环境，为研究血流、机械应力和生化因素对血管组织的影响提供了一个可控的环境。通过这些系统，研究人员可以探究物理和化学信号如何促成疾病进程和细胞反应，增进我们对疾病进展的理解。生物反应器研究表明，血流动力学力，尤其是剪切应力，会影响内皮细胞行为并在血管病变中发挥作用。例如，在动脉粥样硬化中，紊乱的血流模式与内皮功能障碍和斑块形成有关。通过模拟这些条件，生物反应器有助于深入了解机械力对血管壁生物学的影响，凸显血流改变如何导致疾病。生物反应器还支持对脉动血流和周向应力影响的研究，能更接近生理环境。除了血流动力学，这些系统还便于研究血管细胞如何对生化信号、炎症标志物和治疗干预做出反应。这种综合方法能更全面地了解血管疾病涉及的因素。诸如芯片上血管模型和模拟动脉装置等最新进展，通过使研究人员能够模拟更广泛的与人体生理学相关的条件，扩展了生物反应器的功能。在血管炎研究中，生物反应器有助于探究免疫与内皮细胞的相互作用，特别是与能复制患者特异性反应的干细胞衍生细胞的相互作用。生物反应器在血管组织工程中也发挥着作用，尤其是在评估可能减少血管移植物炎症的材料和无支架设计方面。这些努力有助于持续寻找更兼容的移植物材料，有可能改善临床应用的效果。本综述全面概述了应用于血管炎症研究的生物反应器技术，审视了它们的设计、应用以及对疾病建模的贡献。该综述分为生物反应器配置、血流动力学、生化相互作用和组织工程应用等章节，最后讨论了近期的创新并突出了未来研究方向，强调了生物反应器在将实验室研究与对血管疾病的深入了解联系起来方面的作用。
