To determine whether the Zika virus caused this, a number of independent teams of researchers — including two in Brazil and one at the University of California, San Diego — created
brain organoids from healthy human cells and infected some of them with the Zika virus.
Researchers might generate personalized
brain organoids from the reprogrammed skin cells of individuals with, say, schizophrenia and test which medications work best for patients with particular genetic profiles of the illness.
Not exact matches
The Salk team therefore took human
brain organoids that had been growing in lab dishes for 31 to 50 days and implanted them into mouse
brains (more than 200 so far)
from which they had removed a tiny bit of tissue to make room.
Since the first human
brain organoids were created
from stem cells in 2013, scientists have gotten them to form structures like those in the
brains of fetuses, to sprout dozens of different kinds of
brain cells, and to develop abnormalities like those causing neurological diseases such as Timothy syndrome.
Cells inside the
brains contract, while cells on the outside grow and push outward, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, discovered
from working with the lab - grown
brains, or
organoids.
The only way the team can be sure they have grown the equivalent of a fetal
brain would be to genetically test individual cells from different regions of the organoid, and compare them to those of human fetus, says Christof Koch at the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Sea
brain would be to genetically test individual cells
from different regions of the
organoid, and compare them to those of human fetus, says Christof Koch at the Allen Institute for
Brain Science in Sea
Brain Science in Seattle.
Brazilian researchers
from the D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR) and Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) have demonstrated the harmful effects of ZIKA virus (ZIKV) in human neural stem cells, neurospheres and
brain organoids.
These micro quasi-brains are revolutionizing research on human
brain development and diseases
from Alzheimer's to Zika, but the headlong rush to grow the most realistic, most highly - developed
brain organoids has thrown researchers into uncharted ethical waters.
According to his unpublished findings, when he puts glioblastoma cells
from patients into lab dishes with
brain organoids, the cells attach to the surface of the
organoids, burrow into them, and within 24 to 48 hours grow into a mass that eventually «looks exactly like what happened in the patient's own
brain,» Fine said.
Another stumbling block is that
brain organoids can vary a lot
from protocol to protocol, or even batch to batch within the same lab.
His team's first
brain organoids were created
from the cells of healthy people.
Now he and his team are putting cells
from human
brain tumors into the
organoids, which have reached the level of development and complexity of a 20 - week - old human fetus's, to see whether they reprise what happens in patients.
«For example, there is a huge amount of interest and excitement globally in growing cerebral
organoids» — miniature
brain - like organs that can be studied in laboratory experiments — «
from stem cells to model human
brain development and disease mechanisms.
For example, to understand why a fetal
brain sometimes doesn't reach full size, a condition called microcephaly, the researchers grew
organoids using iPS cells derived
from a person with the condition.
The researchers produced induced pluripotent stem cells
from skin cells
from Miller - Dieker patients,
from which they then grew
brain organoids.
The
brain organoid, engineered
from adult human skin cells, is the most complete human
brain model yet developed, said Rene Anand, professor of biological chemistry and pharmacology at Ohio State.
Brain organoids, also known as mini-brains, are tiny clumps of brain cells grown from stem cells that researchers are using to investigate the neural underpinnings of autism and other neurological disor
Brain organoids, also known as mini-brains, are tiny clumps of
brain cells grown from stem cells that researchers are using to investigate the neural underpinnings of autism and other neurological disor
brain cells grown
from stem cells that researchers are using to investigate the neural underpinnings of autism and other neurological disorders.
In the
organoids that Lancaster had derived
from a healthy person, the growth of the hindbrain slowed as the forebrain grew — reflecting what happens as a normal human fetal
brain develops.
Organoids grown
from the cells of a patient carrying the gene for severe microcephaly, however, didn't grow as large because those
brain regions didn't develop properly.
Researchers
from Brigham and Women's Hospital are leveraging these new technologies to study the effects of DISC1 mutations in cerebral
organoids - «mini
brains» - cultured
from human stem cells.
Scientists at Harvard University grew their
brain organoids, also
from stem cells, longer than ever before: nine months or more.
Called cortical spheroids, they differ
from cerebral
organoids in that the former mimic specific regions of the
brain, such as the front, rather than many sections.