TY - JOUR
T1 - Engineering Smooth Muscle to Understand Extracellular Matrix Remodeling and Vascular Disease
AU - Yarbrough, Danielle
AU - Gerecht, Sharon
N1 - Funding Information:
Danielle Yarbrough is a 2022 recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program. Studies of smooth muscle engineering in our lab are partially funded by RAD0102 from the Translational Research Institute through NASA Cooperative Agreement NNX16AO69A.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors.
PY - 2022/9
Y1 - 2022/9
N2 - The vascular smooth muscle is vital for regulating blood pressure and maintaining cardiovascular health, and the resident smooth muscle cells (SMCs) in blood vessel walls rely on specific mechanical and biochemical signals to carry out these functions. Any slight change in their surrounding environment causes swift changes in their phenotype and secretory profile, leading to changes in the structure and functionality of vessel walls that cause pathological conditions. To adequately treat vascular diseases, it is essential to understand how SMCs crosstalk with their surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM). Here, we summarize in vivo and traditional in vitro studies of pathological vessel wall remodeling due to the SMC phenotype and, conversely, the SMC behavior in response to key ECM properties. We then analyze how three-dimensional tissue engineering approaches provide opportunities to model SMCs’ response to specific stimuli in the human body. Additionally, we review how applying biomechanical forces and biochemical stimulation, such as pulsatile fluid flow and secreted factors from other cell types, allows us to study disease mechanisms. Overall, we propose that in vitro tissue engineering of human vascular smooth muscle can facilitate a better understanding of relevant cardiovascular diseases using high throughput experiments, thus potentially leading to therapeutics or treatments to be tested in the future.
AB - The vascular smooth muscle is vital for regulating blood pressure and maintaining cardiovascular health, and the resident smooth muscle cells (SMCs) in blood vessel walls rely on specific mechanical and biochemical signals to carry out these functions. Any slight change in their surrounding environment causes swift changes in their phenotype and secretory profile, leading to changes in the structure and functionality of vessel walls that cause pathological conditions. To adequately treat vascular diseases, it is essential to understand how SMCs crosstalk with their surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM). Here, we summarize in vivo and traditional in vitro studies of pathological vessel wall remodeling due to the SMC phenotype and, conversely, the SMC behavior in response to key ECM properties. We then analyze how three-dimensional tissue engineering approaches provide opportunities to model SMCs’ response to specific stimuli in the human body. Additionally, we review how applying biomechanical forces and biochemical stimulation, such as pulsatile fluid flow and secreted factors from other cell types, allows us to study disease mechanisms. Overall, we propose that in vitro tissue engineering of human vascular smooth muscle can facilitate a better understanding of relevant cardiovascular diseases using high throughput experiments, thus potentially leading to therapeutics or treatments to be tested in the future.
KW - cardiovascular disease
KW - extracellular matrix
KW - tissue engineering
KW - vascular smooth muscle cells
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U2 - 10.3390/bioengineering9090449
DO - 10.3390/bioengineering9090449
M3 - Review article
C2 - 36134994
AN - SCOPUS:85138631103
SN - 2306-5354
VL - 9
JO - Bioengineering
JF - Bioengineering
IS - 9
M1 - 449
ER -