Bioengineered Vascular Model of Foam Cell Formation.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Vascular Biology
• Cellular Pathology

Background:

• Foam cell formation is a key process in blood vessel pathology, involving endothelium dysfunction and inflammation.
• Understanding this process requires advanced bioengineered models that mimic native vascular environments.
• Current models lack the complexity to fully recapitulate in vivo vascular dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a novel microfluidic blood vessel model for studying foam cell formation.
• To investigate the regulatory mechanisms of monocyte adhesion, migration, and foam cell development.
• To provide a platform for drug screening in vascular disease research.

Main Methods:

• Generation of a 3D microfluidic vascular model with an endothelial layer and extracellular matrix.
• Dynamic culture conditions simulating native vascular shear stress and inflammatory environments.
• Analysis of monocyte adhesion, transmigration, and foam cell formation under varying conditions.

Main Results:

• Monocyte migration into the subendothelial space requires endothelial cell presence.
• Tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and low shear stress significantly enhance monocyte migration.
• Pre-exposure of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) to high shear rates increases transmigration but not foam cell formation capacity.

Conclusions:

• The developed microfluidic model effectively recapitulates key aspects of foam cell formation.
• Endothelial cells, inflammatory signals (TNF-α), and shear stress are critical regulators of monocyte recruitment.
• This versatile platform facilitates mechanistic studies and drug screening for vascular pathologies.