Overview

• Stanford Medicine researchers produced heart organoids with functional branching blood vessels and liver counterparts exhibiting robust vascular networks
• Single-cell analysis showed the heart organoids contained 15 to 17 distinct cardiac cell types, closely mirroring a six-week-old human embryonic heart
• The team optimized dozens of signaling molecule combinations and used micropatterning to induce endothelial and smooth muscle cell formation within the organoids
• Vascularized cardiac organoids exposed to fentanyl responded with increased blood vessel formation, demonstrating the models’ utility for studying drug effects
• The breakthrough promises to enhance drug discovery, support personalized medicine and strengthen efforts to replace animal testing with organoid-based drug evaluation