A neural, or brain organoid, describes an artificially grown, in vitro, tissue resembling parts of the human brain. Neural organoids are created by culturing pluripotent stem cells into a three-dimensional culture that can be maintained for years.[1][2] The brain is an extremely complex system of heterogeneous tissues and consists of a diverse array of neurons and glial cells. This complexity has made studying the brain and understanding how it works a difficult task in neuroscience, especially when it comes to neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases. The purpose of creating an in vitro neurological model is to study these diseases in a more defined setting. This 3D model is free of many potential in vivo limitations. The varying physiology between human and other mammalian models limits the scope of animal studies in neurological disorders. Neural organoids contain several types of nerve cells and have anatomical features that recapitulate regions of the nervous system.[3] Some neural organoids are most similar to neurons of the cortex. In some cases, the retina,spinal cord, thalamus and hippocampus.[1] Other neural organoids are unguided and contain a diversity of neural and non-neural cells. Stem cells have the potential to grow into many different types of tissues, and their fate is dependent on many factors. Below is an image showing some of the chemical factors that can lead stem cells to differentiate into various neural tissues; a more in-depth table of generating specific organoid identity has been published.[4] Similar techniques are used on stem cells used to grow cerebral organoids.[3]
Instructive growth factors regulating fate decisions in embryonic NCSCs
^ abLancaster MA, Renner M, Martin CA, Wenzel D, Bicknell LS, Hurles ME, et al. (September 2013). "Cerebral organoids model human brain development and microcephaly". Nature. 501 (7467): 373–9. Bibcode:2013Natur.501..373L. doi:10.1038/nature12517. PMC 3817409. PMID 23995685.
^Gordon A, Yoon SJ, Tran SS, Makinson CD, Park JY, Andersen J, Valencia AM, Horvath S, Xiao X, Huguenard JR, Pașca SP, Geschwind DH. Long-term maturation of human cortical organoids matches key early postnatal transitions. Nat Neurosci. 2021 Mar;24(3):331-342. doi: 10.1038/s41593-021-00802-y. Epub 2021 Feb 22. PMID: 33619405; PMCID: PMC8109149.
^ abDi Lullo, Elizabeth; Kriegstein, Arnold R. (2017-09-07). "The use of brain organoids to investigate neural development and disease". Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 18 (10): 573–584. doi:10.1038/nrn.2017.107. ISSN 1471-003X. PMC 5667942. PMID 28878372.
^Di Lullo E, Kriegstein AR (October 2017). "The use of brain organoids to investigate neural development and disease". Nature Reviews. Neuroscience. 18 (10): 573–584. doi:10.1038/nrn.2017.107. PMC 5667942. PMID 28878372. Table 1: Protocols for brain organoid generation
usual cerebralorganoid culturing processes to generate microglia in cerebralorganoids. The lack of vasculature limits the size the organoid can grow...
An organoid is a miniaturised and simplified version of an organ produced in vitro in three dimensions that mimics the key functional, structural, and...
approaches, OI seeks to use lab-grown cerebralorganoids to serve as "biological hardware." Scientists hope that such organoids can provide faster, more efficient...
Takahashi, Jun; Fujita, Misao (10 September 2019). "The Ethics of CerebralOrganoid Research: Being Conscious of Consciousness". Stem Cell Reports. 13...
Takahashi, Jun; Fujita, Misao (10 September 2019). "The Ethics of CerebralOrganoid Research: Being Conscious of Consciousness". Stem Cell Reports. 13...
The differentiating aspect dictating whether an organoid is deemed a cerebralorganoid/brain organoid or myelinoid is the presence of myelination and...
cerebralorganoids transplanted into mice functionally integrate with their visual cortex. Such models may raise similar ethical issues as organoid-based...
behaviour, and the creation of neuronal maps. The development of cerebralorganoids has opened ways for studying the growth of the brain, and of the cortex...
(October 2016). "Building brains in a dish: Prospects for growing cerebralorganoids from stem cells". Neuroscience. 334: 105–118. doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience...
the development of neuron types in the cerebral cortex. She is best known for her work using 3D cerebralorganoids derived from human induced pluripotent...
the biological processes of human brain evolution. The lab uses the cerebralorganoid system to study how genes impact on brain development in a range of...
more and more varied cell types arise with a longer time in culture. Cerebralorganoid Neural stem cell Progenitor cell Adult stem cell Kempermann, Gerd...
An assembloid is an in vitro model that combines two or more organoids, spheroids, or cultured cell types to recapitulate structural and functional properties...
miniature cortexes, known as corticopoiesis, and brain models, known as cerebralorganoids, are techniques that could further the field of neural tissue regeneration...
nonhuman ape cortical architecture in brain organoids. In 2021, researchers reported that brain organoids created with stem cells into which they reintroduced...
1590/1516-4446-2020-0980. Short term changes in the proteome of human cerebralorganoids induced by 5-MeO-DMT. Dakic V, Minardi Nascimento J, Costa Sartore...
microtubule cytoskeleton and neurodevelopment. Employing mice and cerebralorganoids as model systems his laboratory has shown that mutations in the beta...
theory, and pattern recognition. At present, his lab grows human cerebralorganoids for neurodevelopmental disease research and to explore human neural...
apoptosis and promotes tau hyperphosphorylation in hESC-derived 3D cerebralorganoids". Food and Chemical Toxicology. 144: 111643. doi:10.1016/j.fct.2020...
early development of the human brain or nervous system include: Brain organoids and 'assembloids' (see also: Genetic factors of recent brain evolution)...
Bio- and electrical engineers prove for the first time that human cerebralorganoids transplanted into mice functionally integrate with their visual cortex...
Global Information