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  • Review Article
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Capturing complex 3D tissue physiology in vitro

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 7, pages 211–224 (2006)Cite this article

Key Points

  • Over the past two decades, the field of tissue engineering has focused primarily on the creation of tissues for patients. The emphasis of the field is now shifting to include the creation of complex in vitro tissue models that help to explain disease processes (for example, breast cancer) and serve as tools to assess the safety and efficacy of therapies (for example, screens of liver toxicity).

  • The 3D extracellular-matrix (ECM) environment in vivo provides both chemical and physical cues to regulate cell behaviour, serving not only as a structural support, but as a depot of many effector molecules. New synthetic matrices that include well-defined adhesion, growth factor and degradation moieties are being developed to mimic these cues, thereby allowing the quantitative analysis of cell migration, differentiation, survival and growth.

  • Gradients of nutrients and effector molecules are present in 3D cultures. The magnitude of gradients for vital molecules such as oxygen can be predicted for a given experimental arrangement, but data are just emerging for the rates of production and consumption of growth factors, cytokines and other effector molecules.

  • All tissues are subjected to mechanical forces that arise from interstitial flow and tissue movement. These mechanical forces can redistribute effector molecules that are secreted by cells, resulting in the coupling of chemical and mechanical signalling.

  • Microfabrication methods that have been adapted from the microelectronics industry and applied to miniaturize biochemical analyses are now being applied to create complex 3D tissue structures for in vitro studies, and are being combined with microfluidic pumps that can provide microscale fluid flows through tissues for long-term culture.

  • Experimental systems must be developed hand-in-hand with mathematical models that take into account the integration of numerous cues that influence downstream signals and, ultimately, cell responses.

Abstract

The emergence of tissue engineering raises new possibilities for the study of complex physiological and pathophysiological processes in vitro. Many tools are now available to create 3D tissue models in vitro, but the blueprints for what to make have been slower to arrive. We discuss here some of the 'design principles' for recreating the interwoven set of biochemical and mechanical cues in the cellular microenvironment, and the methods for implementing them. We emphasize applications that involve epithelial tissues for which 3D models could explain mechanisms of disease or aid in drug development.

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Figure 1: The importance of the 3D environment for engineering cell function.
Figure 2: Coupling between biophysical and biochemical cues.
Figure 3: Biophysical influences on interactions between tumour cells.
Figure 4: Microscale 3D model of liver.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Hwa, A. Wells, D. Stolz, S. Watkins, C. Yates, G. Papworth and P.T. So for the use of unpublished photos. We thank D. Lauffenburger, F. Gertler and V. Weaver for critical review of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biological Engineering Division, Mechanical Engineering Department and Biotech/Pharma Engineering Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 16-429, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts, USA

    Linda G. Griffith

  2. Institute of Bioengineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland

    Melody A. Swartz

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Correspondence to Linda G. Griffith.

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Glossary

Feature

An architectural or compositional component of a scaffold that delineates a distinct, defined region. For example, features in a scaffold with a honeycomb architecture would include: the walls, the hexagonal channels and the overall shape.

Acinar

Pertaining to a sac-like tissue structure in the shape of an acinus, which is a polarized epithelial layer surrounding a small lumen that contains secretions (such as milk) from epithelial cells.

Proteoglycans

Extracellular matrix components that consist of a protein core and glycosamino side chains. They are huge molecules (>100 MDa) with a high fixed-charge density and are crucial to maintaining the fluid balance and storing growth factors, cytokines and other morphogens in the matrix.

Matrigel

Commercially available extract of the basement membrane-like ECM that is secreted by the murine Engelbreth-Holm-Swarm (EHS) tumour and that is rich in laminin, type IV collagen, heparan sulphate proteoglycans and growth factors. It supports the in vitro formation of tubes from endothelial cells, as well as the in vitro differentiation of many epithelial cell types.

Convection

Transport by fluid flow (as opposed to diffusion); can refer to the transport of fluid or of solute that is dissolved in the fluid and carried by the flow.

Autocrine loop

Mode of growth-factor signalling in which a cell that expresses a particular growth-factor receptor also synthesizes and releases the corresponding ligand, by which the receptor is activated.

Interstitial flow

Flow through or within the 3D extracellular matrix (as opposed to across a surface or within a vessel).

Starling force

A force that drives fluid movement, including gradients or differences in hydrostatic pressure (which drives fluid flow from higher to lower pressures) and osmotic pressure (which drives fluid flow from less concentrated to more concentrated areas).

Fluid shear stress

Mechanical stress on a surface (for example, of a cell or ECM fibre) caused by fluid flow across that surface.

Angiogenesis

The growth of new blood vessels by sprouting from existing vessels in a process that involves endothelial-cell migration and proliferation.

Glycosaminoglycans

Polysaccharide chains of ECM proteoglycans, comprising disaccharide-repeat units with one amino sugar and one negatively charged (carboxylated or sulphated) sugar.

Resolution

The smallest dimensions over which the placement or size of a feature can be controlled during the fabrication of a device or scaffold. There are three measures of resolution: positive feature size (the minimum width of a wall that can be created); negative feature size (the minimum possible width of a channel or hole) and feature placement (how reproducible the spacing is between features).

Capillary bed

A region of tissue that contains a local network of blood microvessels, where the intimate exchange of fluid and molecular components between blood and tissues occurs.

Sinusoidal capillary

A discontinuous capillary that consists of endothelial cells with unusually wide gaps between them, and (partially) lacking a basement membrane. Sinusoidal capillaries can be found in liver, spleen and bone marrow.

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Griffith, L., Swartz, M. Capturing complex 3D tissue physiology in vitro. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 7, 211–224 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm1858

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