Stanford University researchers have achieved a major milestone in regenerative medicine by creating lab-grown heart and liver organoids that include their own blood vessels.
These vascularized organoids mark a significant leap forward because previous versions lacked the ability to grow beyond a limited size due to the absence of internal circulation.
Without vessels, cells in the center of organoids would die from a lack of nutrients and oxygen. The addition of functional blood vessel networks allows the mini-organs to sustain more realistic structure, function, and longevity in lab environments.
The team focused primarily on developing heart organoids that resemble a human embryonic heart around 6.5 weeks into gestation.
These lab-grown hearts were able to beat and exhibited cell diversity that mirrors actual early-stage human heart development.
Using a rigorous screening of 34 different combinations of growth signals and structural scaffolding, researchers identified the optimal formula (referred to as “condition 32”) that reliably produced key cell types including cardiomyocytes (heart muscle cells), smooth muscle, and endothelial cells (which form blood vessels).
One striking application was testing how fetal tissues might respond to external chemicals.
The team exposed the heart organoids to fentanyl — a powerful opioid — and observed abnormal increases in vessel growth, indicating that the organoids can model how drugs affect early development.
This has major implications for studying toxic exposures and congenital disease origins.
Moreover, the researchers replicated their vascularization technique in liver organoids, proving that the approach is flexible and scalable.
The long-term goal is to create implantable organoids for use in human therapy, especially for repairing damaged organs.
Until then, these mini-organs provide a valuable new platform for drug testing, developmental biology, and reducing animal use in research — aligning with updated FDA guidelines favoring human-relevant models.
These vascularized organoids mark a significant leap forward because previous versions lacked the ability to grow beyond a limited size due to the absence of internal circulation.
Without vessels, cells in the center of organoids would die from a lack of nutrients and oxygen. The addition of functional blood vessel networks allows the mini-organs to sustain more realistic structure, function, and longevity in lab environments.
The team focused primarily on developing heart organoids that resemble a human embryonic heart around 6.5 weeks into gestation.
These lab-grown hearts were able to beat and exhibited cell diversity that mirrors actual early-stage human heart development.
Using a rigorous screening of 34 different combinations of growth signals and structural scaffolding, researchers identified the optimal formula (referred to as “condition 32”) that reliably produced key cell types including cardiomyocytes (heart muscle cells), smooth muscle, and endothelial cells (which form blood vessels).
One striking application was testing how fetal tissues might respond to external chemicals.
The team exposed the heart organoids to fentanyl — a powerful opioid — and observed abnormal increases in vessel growth, indicating that the organoids can model how drugs affect early development.
This has major implications for studying toxic exposures and congenital disease origins.
Moreover, the researchers replicated their vascularization technique in liver organoids, proving that the approach is flexible and scalable.
The long-term goal is to create implantable organoids for use in human therapy, especially for repairing damaged organs.
Until then, these mini-organs provide a valuable new platform for drug testing, developmental biology, and reducing animal use in research — aligning with updated FDA guidelines favoring human-relevant models.
Stanford University researchers have achieved a major milestone in regenerative medicine by creating lab-grown heart and liver organoids that include their own blood vessels.
These vascularized organoids mark a significant leap forward because previous versions lacked the ability to grow beyond a limited size due to the absence of internal circulation.
Without vessels, cells in the center of organoids would die from a lack of nutrients and oxygen. The addition of functional blood vessel networks allows the mini-organs to sustain more realistic structure, function, and longevity in lab environments.
The team focused primarily on developing heart organoids that resemble a human embryonic heart around 6.5 weeks into gestation.
These lab-grown hearts were able to beat and exhibited cell diversity that mirrors actual early-stage human heart development.
Using a rigorous screening of 34 different combinations of growth signals and structural scaffolding, researchers identified the optimal formula (referred to as “condition 32”) that reliably produced key cell types including cardiomyocytes (heart muscle cells), smooth muscle, and endothelial cells (which form blood vessels).
One striking application was testing how fetal tissues might respond to external chemicals.
The team exposed the heart organoids to fentanyl — a powerful opioid — and observed abnormal increases in vessel growth, indicating that the organoids can model how drugs affect early development.
This has major implications for studying toxic exposures and congenital disease origins.
Moreover, the researchers replicated their vascularization technique in liver organoids, proving that the approach is flexible and scalable.
The long-term goal is to create implantable organoids for use in human therapy, especially for repairing damaged organs.
Until then, these mini-organs provide a valuable new platform for drug testing, developmental biology, and reducing animal use in research — aligning with updated FDA guidelines favoring human-relevant models.
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