Strategies to regenerate cardiac tissue postinjury are limited and heart transplantation remains the only ‘cure’ for a failing heart. Extracellular vesicles (EVs), membrane-bound cell secretions important in intercellular signaling, have been shown to play a crucial role in regulating heart function. A mechanistic understanding of the role of EVs in the heart remains elusive due to the challenges in studying the native human heart. Tissue-on-a-chip platforms, comprising functional, physiologically relevant human tissue models, are an emerging technology that has yet to be fully applied to the study of EVs. In this review, we summarize recent advances in cardiac tissue-on-a-chip (CTC) platforms and discuss how they are uniquely situated to advance our understanding of EVs in cardiac disease and regeneration.

损伤后再生心脏组织的策略是有限的，心脏移植仍然是心脏衰竭的唯一“治愈方法”。细胞外囊泡 (EVs) 是一种在细胞间信号传导中重要的膜结合细胞分泌物，已被证明在调节心脏功能中起关键作用。由于研究人类心脏的挑战，对 EV 在心脏中的作用的机械理解仍然难以捉摸。由功能性、生理相关的人体组织模型组成的片上组织平台是一项尚未完全应用于电动汽车研究的新兴技术。在这篇综述中，我们总结了心脏组织芯片 (CTC) 平台的最新进展，并讨论了它们如何独特地定位以促进我们对心脏疾病和再生中的 EV 的理解。