Modeling vascular dynamics at the initial stage of endochondral ossification on a microfluidic chip using a human embryonic-stem-cell-derived organoid

Vascular interactions play a crucial role in embryogenesis, including skeletal development. During endochondral ossification, vascular networks are formed as mesenchymal cells condense and later invade skeletal elements to form the bone marrow. We and other groups developed a model of endochondral ossification by implanting human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived sclerotome into immunodeficient mice. However, in vitro models of endochondral ossification, particularly vascular interaction with mesenchymal cells at its initial stage, are yet to be established. Therefore, we developed a method to model the initial stage of endochondral ossification using a microfluidic chip-based platform, with a particular focus on the vascular interaction. On the chip, we found that the fibrin gel helped align mCherry-expressing human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) better than the collagen-I gel, suggesting that the fibrin gel is more suitable for the formation of a vascular-like network. The perfusability of the vascular-like networks was partially confirmed using fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-dextran and fluorescent microbeads. We then mixed hESC-derived sclerotome with enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)-expressing HUVECs and applied this mixture on the chip. We named this mixture of cells SH organoids. The SH organoids showed superior abilities to maintain the vascular-like network, which was formed by the mCherry-expressing HUVECs, compared with the sclerotome spheroids on the chip. The EGFP-expressing HUVECs migrated from the SH organoid, formed a vascular-like networks, and partially interacted with the mCherry-expressing vascular-like networks on the chip. Histological analysis showed that SRY-box transcription factor 9 (SOX9) and type I collagen were expressed mutually exclusively in the condensed mesenchymal cells and perichondrial-like cells, respectively. This study demonstrates that our SH organoid-on-a-chip method reproduces vascular networks that are formed at the initial stage of endochondral ossification. This model may provide insights into human endochondral ossification and has potential applications in bone disease modeling and drug screening.