Synovial fibroblasts support vascular function in an acute injury-on-a-chip model.

ABSTRACT: Most patients who sustain an acute joint injury develop degenerative joint disease, or osteoarthritis (OA). Animal models have informed the design of OA therapeutics; however, no disease-modifying therapy has successfully translated to human patients. Thus, there is a strong motivation to develop humanized in vitro platforms to fill a critical gap in knowledge of disease progression post-injury. Here, we develop an acute injury-on-a-chip model of the synovium, a vascularized, joint-lining tissue that has been implicated in OA progression and as a key driver of joint disease. We apply this chip-based system to investigate crosstalk between endothelial cells, lining an engineered vessel, and synovial fibroblasts, embedded within an extracellular matrix hydrogel. Our data indicate that

SUBMITTER: Zlotnick HM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12338541 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature