For the first time, it was possible to grow miniature neural structures with their own vascular network - "mini-brains" for research and implantation of patients.
Back in 2013, Austrian scientists developed a method for growing small three-dimensional structures from human neurons - "organelles" of the brain for biomedical research. Now these technologies have been taken to the next level, forcing the organoid to form its own vasculature and bringing it even closer to the real brain.
Ben Waldau and his colleagues from the University of California at Davis report this in an article published in the journal NeuroReport. According to scientists, in the future, such organelles may act as implants to replace the lost brain fragments. The presence of the vascular network allows for the growth of larger structures and their preservation for longer "in vitro", as well as facilitates their future integration into the living brain.
Valdau and his co-authors obtained neurons from patients undergoing brain surgery, turning them into induced pluripotent stem cells. Then they were forced to develop, differentiating into cells - precursors of neurons, as well as into cells of the endothelium, which forms the walls of the vessels of the circulatory and lymphatic systems. After 34 days of separate cultivation, both cells were combined and placed in a gel protein base, after which they were grown for another three to five weeks.
A slice of a grown organoid. The arrow indicates a vessel that has grown deep into its structure / Pham et al.
During this time, the organoid was finally formed, turning into a "mini-brain" with all the necessary types of cells and permeated with a complex network of vessels. According to scientists, in terms of complexity, the resulting structure is comparable to the brain of an embryo in the second trimester of development, although in size it is about 3.5 millimeters.
In addition, parallel experiments were carried out, during which "semi-mature" organelles from cells - precursors of neurons and endothelium were cultured not in a protein gel, but in a living organism. To do this, they were surgically implanted into the brains of mice. Two weeks later, scientists checked their condition and found that they had also grown and formed a vasculature.
Sergey Vasiliev
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