The discovery of neural stem cells (NSCs) and their microenvironment, the NSC niche, brought new therapeutic strategies through neurogenesis and angiogenesis for stroke and most neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease. Based on the close links between NSCs and endothelial cells, the integration of neurogenesis and angiogenesis of the NSC niche is also a promising area to the neurovascular unit (NVU) modeling and is now offering a powerful tool to advance our understanding of the brain. In this review, critical aspects of the NVU and model systems are discussed. First, we briefly describe the interaction of each part in the NSC niche. Second, we introduce the co-culture system, microfluidic platforms, and stem cell-derived 3D reconstitution used in NVU modeling based on the close relations between NSCs and endothelial cells, and various characteristics of cell interactions in these systems are also described. Finally, we address the challenges in modeling the NVU that can potentially be overcome by employing strategies for advanced biomaterials and stem cell co-culture use. Based on these approaches, researchers will continue to develop predictable technologies to control the fate of stem cells, achieve accurate screening of drugs for the nervous system, and advance the clinical application of NVU models.

中文翻译：

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基于神经干细胞和内皮细胞的密切关系重构神经血管单元：探索神经发生和血管生成的有效方法

神经干细胞 (NSC) 及其微环境（NSC 生态位）的发现为中风和大多数神经退行性疾病（包括阿尔茨海默病）带来了新的治疗策略，通过神经发生和血管生成。基于 NSC 和内皮细胞之间的密切联系，NSC 生态位的神经发生和血管生成的整合也是神经血管单元 (NVU) 建模的一个有前途的领域，现在为促进我们对大脑的理解提供了一个强大的工具。在这篇评论中，讨论了 NVU 和模型系统的关键方面。首先，我们简要描述 NSC 利基中每个部分的相互作用。其次，我们介绍了基于 NSCs 和内皮细胞之间的密切关系的 NVU 建模中使用的共培养系统、微流控平台和干细胞衍生的 3D 重建，并且还描述了这些系统中细胞相互作用的各种特征。最后，我们解决了建模 NVU 的挑战，这些挑战可以通过采用先进的生物材料和干细胞共培养使用的策略来克服。基于这些方法，研究人员将继续开发可预测的技术来控制干细胞的命运，实现神经系统药物的准确筛选，并推进 NVU 模型的临床应用。