Advances in cardiac organoid technology: current trends and standardized quality assessment for toxicity testing in preclinical models

Abstract

Cardiotoxicity is a prominent cause of drug withdrawal, impacting drug development during preclinical and clinical phases, as well as post-market approval. Traditional 2-dimensional cell culture models, despite being resource-rich, suffer from a suboptimal physiological environment. Animal models provide an in vivo setting; however, their use is declining due to interspecies variability and ethical concerns. Cardiac organoids, which are derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells, incorporate human genetic information and contain various cell types within a 3-dimensional environment that mimics the human heart. As a result, they are becoming increasingly popular in the development of preclinical models for drug testing. To effectively use cardiac organoids as preclinical models, a standardized quality assessment is crucial. This review discusses current trends in cardiac organoid generation and examines recent analytical techniques for quality assessment.