By Tanya Lewis, Staff Writer | August 28, 2013 01:00pm ET
A magnified image of a cerebral organoid showing cerebral tissue adjacent to developing retinal tissue (brown pigmented region).
Credit: Madeline A. Lancaster
Researchers grew human stem cells in an environment that encouraged them to form pea-size gobs of brain tissue, which developed into distinct brain tissues, including a cerebral cortex and retina.
The minibrains were used to model microcephaly, a human genetic disorder in which brain size is dramatically reduced. Though not capable of consciousness or other higher cognitive functions, the minibrains allow scientists to study
aspects of the developing human brain that are difficult to model in animals. [Inside the Brain: A Photo Journey Through Time] for the human brain,"
study researcher Jüergen Knoblich, of the Austrian Academy of Science's
(IMBA) Institute of Molecular Biotechnology in Vienna, said at a news conference. "Our system allows us to study human-specific features of brain development."Other groups have grown small pieces of neural tissue in the lab before, but none has been able to successfully grow tissue that contained both a cortex — the specialized outer layer of the brain — and other brain regions, Knoblich said.
To create the minibrains, Knoblich and his team took human embryonic stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells — both types of cells with a capacity to develop into any kind of tissue — and grew the cells in conditions that allowed them to form a tissue called neuroectoderm, which develops into the nervous system. The researchers embedded fragments of the tissue in droplets of gel to create a scaffold to guide further growth. They then transferred the droplets to a spinning bioreactor that increased nutrient absorption.
Read More Here
Related articles
No comments:
Post a Comment
Hello and thank you for visiting my blog. Please share your thoughts and leave a comment :)