Zuppinger C 2016 This review discusses historical milestones, recent developments and challenges in the area of 3D culture models with cardiovascular cell types. Expectations in this area have been raised in recent years, but more relevant in vitro research, more accurate drug testing results, reliable disease models and insights leading to bioartificial organs are expected from the transition to 3D cell culture. However, the construction of organ-like cardiac 3D models currently remains a difficult challenge. The heart consists of highly differentiated cells in an intricate arrangement.Furthermore, electrical “wiring”, a vascular system and multiple cell types act in concert to respond to the rapidly changing demands of the body. Although cardiovascular 3D culture models have been predominantly developed for regenerative medicine in the past, their use in drug screening and for disease models has become more popular recently. Many sophisticated 3D culture models are currently being developed in this dynamic area of life science. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Cardiomyocyte Biology: Integration of Developmental and Environmental Cues in the Heart edited by Marcus Schaub and Hughes Abriel. https://sonar.ch/global/documents/167031 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.bbamcr.2015.11.036 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/26658163 Biochimica et biophysica acta. - 2016 3D culture Cardiomyocytes Cardiotoxicity Cell culture Drug screening Tissue engineering Animals Cardiovascular Agents Cell Communication Cell Culture Techniques Cell Differentiation Cells, Cultured Coculture Techniques Diffusion of Innovation Drug Discovery Heart Diseases Humans Myocytes, Cardiac Phenotype Regenerative Medicine Tissue Engineering 3D culture for cardiac cells. http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501