by DOUGLAS HEAVEN
Why rely on mouse brains to help us understand our most complex organ when you can grow a model of a human one? Tiny “brains” that include parts of the cortex, hippocampus and even retinas, have been made for the first time using stem cells. The 3D tissue structures will let researchers study the early stages of human brain development in unprecedented detail.
Because human brains are so different from those of most animals, looking at how animal brains develop only gives us a crude understanding of the process in humans. “Mouse models don’t cut it,” says Juergen Knoblich at the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) in Vienna, Austria.
To grow their miniature brains, Knoblich and colleagues took induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells – adult cells reprogrammed to behave like embryonic stem cells – and gave them a mix of nutrients thought to be essential for brain development. The stem cells first differentiated into neuroectoderm tissue, the layer of cells that would eventually become an embryo’s nervous system. The tissue was suspended in a gel scaffold to help it develop a 3D structure.
New Scientist for more
(Thanks to reader)