Recent advances in chemically defined and tunable hydrogel platforms for organoid culture

Recent developments in organoid culture technologies have made it possible to closely recapitulate intrinsic characteristics of different tissues under in vitro conditions. These organoids act as a translational bridge between the traditional 2D/3D cultures and the in vivo models for studying the tissue development processes, disease modeling, and drug screening. Matrigel and tissue-specific extracellular matrix have been shown to support organoid development, efficiently; however, their chemically undefined nature, non-tunable properties, and associated batch-to-batch variations often limit reproducibility of the assembly process. In this regard, chemically defined platforms offer wider opportunities to optimize and recreate tissue-specific microenvironment. The present review delineates the current research trends in this sphere, focusing on material perspective and the target tissues (e.g., neural, liver, pancreatic, renal, and intestinal). The review winds up with a discussion on the current limitations and future perspective to provide a basis for future research.

Automated summary

Recent advancements in organoid culture technologies have enabled the replication of intrinsic characteristics of different tissues under in vitro conditions, serving as a translational bridge for studying tissue development, disease modeling, and drug screening. While chemically defined platforms provide opportunities to optimize tissue-specific microenvironments, they also face limitations such as reproducibility issues.