New Frontiers in Cardiovascular Research: Microfluidic Modeling of Cardiovascular Diseases and Applications for Hypertension Research

Abstract

Microfluidic organ-on-chips are rapidly emerging as viable and informative platforms for disease modeling and drug development. A central advantage of these platforms is the integration of biophysical stimuli with biological components to aid in recreating the microenvironment of cells, tissues, and organs. By doing so, microfluidic organ-on-chips may more closely approximate (patho)physiological events and drug responses in humans than traditional cell cultures and animal models. This chapter provides a general overview of microfluidic organ-on-chips for cardiovascular research, and discusses current and future applications to hypertension research. This chapter is intended as a primer for clinicians interested in basic science/translational research of CVDs.