To address the global burden of cardiovascular diseases, there’s an urgent need for early-stage screening technologies and effective therapeutics. However, the medical research community faces significant challenges, including the high failure rate of candidate drugs in clinical trials and the ethical concerns surrounding the use of laboratory animals. Static cell culture models also fall short in replicating the complex tissue-level microenvironment.

Recent advancements in tissue engineering and microfluidics have paved the way for the development of heart-on-a-chip models. These models aim to simulate the roles of cardiomyocytes, fibroblasts, and endothelial cells—each crucial for normal cardiac function.

Cardiomyocytes manage heart contraction and electric signaling, fibroblasts maintain structural integrity, and endothelial cells regulate the vascular system.

Previous studies have reported bi-culture systems incorporating induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes and fibroblasts, excluding endothelial cell functions.