Imagine the brain’s blood vessels as a bustling highway system, twisting, turning, and pulsing with life. Now picture a traffic jam in one of the most critical intersections: that’s what happens in cerebrovascular diseases, especially when stenosis (narrowing of blood vessels) blocks the flow.
Doctors have tools to clear the jam, like surgical rerouting, balloon angioplasty, and stents. These can help restore blood flow, but here’s the catch: they don’t rebuild the real complexity of the brain’s vascular network. It’s like fixing a highway with straight pipes when the brain needs winding mountain roads.
Traditional lab models? They’re often too simple. Static cultures and microfluidic chips can’t mimic the brain’s dynamic flow, flexible vessel walls, or biological responses. That’s like studying traffic patterns using toy cars on a flat board.
So what’s the significant need? We need next-gen models, ones that recreate the brain’s vascular maze with all its twists, pulses, and cellular chatter. Only then can we truly understand how abnormal blood flow sparks inflammation and damages the delicate lining of blood vessels.
To address a key gap in cerebrovascular research, a team led by Professor Byoung Soo Kim and Researcher Min-Ju Choi from Pusan National University, together with Professor Dong-Woo Cho and Dr. Wonbin Park from POSTECH, created a 3D-bioprinted lab model of narrowed brain blood vessels.
They used an advanced embedded coaxial bioprinting method to quickly produce hollow, blood-flowing vessel structures with precisely controlled narrowing. Their custom bioink, a blend of decellularized pig aorta matrix (dECM), collagen, and alginate, provided the necessary strength and biological signals to help endothelial cells attach and function properly.
Once printed, these artificial brain vessels were filled with real human cells, specifically HUVECs (from umbilical veins) and HBMECs (from brain microvessels). Then, the researchers turned on the flow, simulating both healthy and narrowed (stenotic) blood conditions. The result? A lab-grown system that mimicked real blood flow and recreated the twisted geometries seen in cerebrovascular diseases.
Using fluid simulations and tiny tracer beads, the team confirmed that the narrowed regions caused chaotic flow patterns, just like those found in atherosclerosis. The vessel walls were entirely lined with cells and expressed key junction proteins: CD31, VE-cadherin, and ZO-1, which help cells stick together and form a tight barrier.
Even better, the vessels showed selective permeability, meaning they could control what passed through, just like real blood vessels do. And under disturbed flow, the vessels ramped up inflammatory markers, a sign that the endothelial barrier was not only functional but responding like it would in disease.
Professor Byoung Soo Kim said, “This 3D bioprinting technology marks a significant advancement in cerebrovascular disease modeling by enabling anatomically accurate and physiologically relevant vessels.”
Using a strong ECM-based bioink and coaxial bioprinting, researchers created a realistic model of narrowed brain vessels to study how blood flow affects inflammation. It works with various human cell types, making it valuable for disease research and personalized medicine. This model bridges lab and real-life conditions, reduces animal testing, and improves drug screening.
Future upgrades, like brain-specific materials, patient cells, and AI-powered organ-on-a-chip systems, could make it even more accurate and personalized.
In conclusion, this study delivers a robust and versatile platform for cerebrovascular tissue engineering. As bioprinting technologies continue to evolve, they hold the potential to transform how we study and treat diseases like stroke and atherosclerosis, accelerating therapeutic discovery and the development of personalized interventions.
Journal Reference:
- Wonbin Park, Min-Ju Choi, Jae-Seong Lee, Minjun Ahn, Wonil Han, Ge Gao, Dong-Woo Cho, Byoung Soo Kim. Embedded 3D-Coaxial Bioprinting of Stenotic Brain Vessels with a Mechanically Enhanced Extracellular Matrix Bioink for Investigating Hemodynamic Force-Induced Endothelial Responses. Advanced Functional Materials. DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202504276