image: As an emerging 3D cell culture system, organoid technology has demonstrated substantial potential in basic research and translational medicine by recapitulating in vivo organ structures and functions. Generated through methods like ALI culture, bioreactor systems, and vascularization strategies, organoids create representative models of kidneys, livers, lungs, and brains for multi-dimensional simulations of organ development, disease pathogenesis, and drug responses. By mimicking the in vivo microenvironment, this technology plays a pivotal role in biomedical research, facilitating HTS, establishing physiologically relevant toxicity assessment models, and advancing disease modeling and biobanking for precision medicine. This review also explores emerging organoid technologies, such as 3D bioprinting for scalable model fabrication, microfluidic systems for dynamic microenvironment control, and genetically engineered organoids for gene-disease association studies. These innovations address traditional limitations in model consistency and complexity, opening new frontiers for mechanistic research and clinical applications, as well as offering novel technical support for accelerating the modernization and translational application of TCM.
Credit: Hongtao Jin
As a revolutionary 3D cell culture system, organoids bridge the gap between traditional 2D models and animal studies. This review synthesizes the current state of organoid engineering, from fundamental methods to transformative applications.
Organoid Construction
Key methods enable the generation of complex organoids:
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Air-Liquid Interface (ALI) Culture: Ideal for modeling hollow organs and co-culturing with immune cells to study the tumor microenvironment.
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Bioreactor Culture: Uses agitation to enhance nutrient exchange, supporting the growth of large, complex organoids like brains and enabling scalable production.
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Vascularization: A critical advancement where organoids are integrated with blood vessels to improve survival and model neurovascular interactions.
Representative Models
The review details the construction of organoids for major organs, including kidneys, livers, lungs, brains, and intestines. These models are derived from pluripotent or adult stem cells using specific signaling pathways and scaffolds to recapitulate organ-specific structure and function.
Applications in Biomedicine
Organoids are transforming biomedical research:
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Disease Modeling: They accurately mimic diseases like cancer, Zika virus infection, and cystic fibrosis.
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Drug Screening & Biobanking: Patient-derived organoid biobanks allow for high-throughput drug testing and personalized treatment prediction.
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Precision Medicine & Toxicity Assessment: They enable the selection of effective therapies for individual patients and provide human-relevant platforms for safety testing.
Application in TCM
Organoids offer a modern platform for TCM research, enabling the screening of active components, studying multi-target mechanisms, and evaluating the safety and efficacy of herbal compounds.
Frontier Technologies
The integration with cutting-edge technologies is pushing the field forward:
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Gene Editing creates precise disease models.
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Single-Cell RNA Sequencing reveals cellular heterogeneity.
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3D Bioprinting allows for the precise fabrication of complex structures.
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Artificial Intelligence analyzes complex organoid data for patterns and predictions.
Conclusion
Despite challenges in standardizing complexity and addressing costs, organoid technology is a powerful tool rapidly advancing our understanding of biology and disease. Its continued integration with other technologies promises to accelerate drug discovery and usher in a new era of personalized and integrative medicine.
Full text:
https://www.xiahepublishing.com/2835-6357/FIM-2025-00023
The study was recently published in the Future Integrative Medicine.
Future Integrative Medicine (FIM) is the official scientific journal of the Capital Medical University. It is a prominent new journal that promotes future innovation in medicine.It publishes both basic and clinical research, including but not limited to randomized controlled trials, intervention studies, cohort studies, observational studies, qualitative and mixed method studies, animal studies, and systematic reviews.
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Journal
Future Integrative Medicine
Article Title
Innovations in Organoid Engineering: Construction Methods, Model Development, and Clinical Translation
Article Publication Date
19-Sep-2025