Miniature human brain-like structures have been grown in a dish for more than a year, much longer than has been achieved previously. The feat was accomplished by growing brain cells into a ball, then slicing it up so that oxygen and nutrients can reach all the cells, while allowing the structure to retain its internal tissue architecture.
The standard way to study tissues kept alive in the lab is to grow them as a single layer of cells in a dish. Then it was found that if the cells could be coaxed into growing into a pea-sized ball known as an organoid, they mature into different cell types that interact with each other more naturally. Organoids may even show the distinct tissue architecture of the organs they mimic. Some brain organoids have even been coaxed into growing rudimentary eyes that respond to light.
But such organoids tend to start dying and breaking apart after a few months because they have no blood supply, so not enough oxygen and nutrients can reach the core. This makes it harder to carry out experiments on them, says at the University of Cambridge.
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While some groups are trying to develop organoids with blood vessels, Lakatos and his team tried a new tactic: cutting up brain organoids into slices about 10 cells thick. In a study published today, the researchers show that they have kept the mini-brains alive for eight months 鈥� but Lakatos says some have actually survived for just over a year. 鈥淵ou still see quite good cell diversity and architecture resembling the fetal brain,鈥� he says.
Some of the mini-brains were made from cells taken from people with motor neuron disease, a condition that causes progressive weakness. These mini-brains behaved slightly differently to those made from cells taken from people in good health, which may one day lead to new ways to treat the illness, says Lakatos.
鈥淵ou can capture the moment when pathology occurs in the dish in front of your eyes. If you know how the disease starts, you might be able to prevent it.鈥�
Nature Neuroscience
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