Rapid Five-Day Process for Developing Vascular Organoids Accelerates Tissue Engineering Research

Scientists at Boston Children's Hospital have developed a groundbreaking five-day method for creating functional vascular organoids, which are miniature blood vessel networks capable of supporting blood flow and integrating into living tissues. Blood vessels are vital for delivering nutrients and oxygen, regulating hemostasis, and managing inflammation. During development, they shape organ formation and support tissue growth and repair, with vascular niches maintaining stem cell populations.

Traditional approaches to engineering vascular networks in vitro faced limitations such as reliance on spontaneous mural cell formation, lengthy culture periods, and extracellular matrix support, which hindered scalability and speed. In contrast, this new technique uses a dual transcription-factor activation strategy to simultaneously induce endothelial and mural cell lineages from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). By guiding iPSCs into mesodermal progenitors and aggregating them into vascular organoids approximately 250 micrometers in diameter, researchers achieved rapid vessel formation.

Within just five days, about half of the cells in each organoid differentiated into blood-vessel cells, forming hollow, tube-like structures complemented by smooth muscle cells. The team employed various techniques such as flow cytometry, immunofluorescence, and single-cell RNA sequencing to monitor lineage commitment and vessel maturation. Further, embedding organoids in collagen-Matrigel gels enhanced their growth and arterial gene expression.

The organoids demonstrated functional blood vessel activity by connecting with host circulation when implanted into mice. They effectively restored roughly 50% of blood flow in ischemic limbs and reduced tissue necrosis. In diabetic mouse models, organoids supported the survival of transplanted islet cells, maintaining normal blood glucose levels for extended periods, even with as few as 100 islet equivalents.

This approach showcases a scalable and efficient way to produce vascular tissue constructs capable of rapid integration and tissue support, opening new prospects for regenerative medicine, treatment of ischemic injuries, and innovative strategies for diabetes therapy. The findings are detailed in the publication "Rapid generation of functional vascular organoids via simultaneous transcription factor activation of endothelial and mural lineages" in Cell Stem Cell (2025). Source: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-06-day-vascular-organoids-tissue.html