Advances in Engineered Three-Dimensional (3D) Body Articulation Unit Models

Indeed, the body articulation units, commonly referred to as body joints, play significant roles in the musculoskeletal system, enabling body flexibility. Nevertheless, these articulation units suffer from several pathological conditions, such as osteoarthritis (OA), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), ankylosing spondylitis, gout, and psoriatic arthritis. There exist several treatment modalities based on the utilization of anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs, which can reduce or control the pathophysiological symptoms. Despite the success, these treatment modalities suffer from major shortcomings of enormous cost and poor recovery, limiting their applicability and requiring promising strategies. To address these limitations, several engineering strategies have been emerged as promising solutions in fabricating the body articulation as unit models towards local articulation repair for tissue regeneration and high-throughput screening for drug development. In this article, we present challenges related to the selection of biomaterials (natural and synthetic sources), construc-tion of 3D articulation models (scaffold-free, scaffold-based, and organ-on-a-chip), architec-tural designs (microfluidics, bioprinting, electrospinning, and biomineralization), and the type of culture conditions (growth factors and active peptides). Then, we emphasize the applicability of these articulation units for emerging biomedical applications of drug screen-ing and tissue repair/regeneration. In conclusion, we put forward the challenges and diffi-culties for the further clinical application of the in vitro 3D articulation unit models in terms of the long-term high activity of the models.

Automated summary

Body articulation units, also known as body joints, are important for body flexibility in the musculoskeletal system. However, they are prone to various pathological conditions such as arthritis. Existing treatment modalities based on anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs have limitations in terms of cost and recovery. Engineering strategies, such as fabricating body articulation unit models for tissue regeneration and drug development, have emerged as promising solutions. Challenges and difficulties still exist in the clinical application of these models.