The recent advent of ‘organs in a dish’ has revolutionised the research landscape. These 3D culture systems have paved the way for translational, post genomics research by enabling scientists to model diseases in the laboratory, grow patient-derived organoids, and unite this technology with other cutting-edge methodologies such as drug discovery. Fields such as dermatology and neuroscience have revolutionised the development of robust 3D models, which faithfully recapitulate native physiology in vivo to provide important functional and mechanistic insights. These models have underpinned a rapid growth in the number of organs and myriad of human diseases that can be modelled in 3D, which currently includes breast, cerebral cortex, heart, intestine, kidney, liver, lung, neural tube, pancreas, prostate, skin and stomach, as well as patient derived tumours. However, so far, they have not yet been employed extensively in the study of fundamental cellular programmes such as senescence. Thus, tissue engineering and 3D culture offer an exciting opportunity to further understand the bright and dark sides of senescence in a more complex and physiologically relevant environment. Below, we will discuss previous approaches to investigating senescence and ageing using organotypic models, and some potential opportunities for future research.

最近出现的“培养皿中的器官”彻底改变了研究领域。这些 3D 培养系统使科学家能够在实验室中对疾病进行建模、培养源自患者的类器官，并将该技术与药物发现等其他前沿方法相结合，从而为转化后基因组学研究铺平了道路。皮肤病学和神经科学等领域彻底改变了强大的 3D 模型的开发，这些模型忠实地再现了体内的天然生理学提供重要的功能和机械见解。这些模型支持了可在 3D 中建模的器官数量和无数人类疾病的快速增长，目前包括乳房、大脑皮层、心脏、肠、肾、肝、肺、神经管、胰腺、前列腺、皮肤和胃，以及患者来源的肿瘤。然而，到目前为止，它们尚未广泛用于研究衰老等基本细胞程序。因此，组织工程和 3D 培养提供了一个令人兴奋的机会，可以在更复杂和生理相关的环境中进一步了解衰老的光明面和黑暗面。下面，我们将讨论以前使用器官模型研究衰老和衰老的方法，以及未来研究的一些潜在机会。