Miniature 'human brain' grown in lab

[Surya Gayatri]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23863544

"Miniature "human brains" have been grown in a lab in a feat scientists hope will transform the understanding of neurological disorders.

The pea-sized structures reached the same level of development as in a nine-week-old foetus, but are incapable of thought.

The study, published in the journal Nature, has already been used to gain insight into rare diseases.

Neuroscientists have described the findings as astounding and fascinating."

Amazing! As one of the researchers said: "Any technique that gives us 'something like a brain' that we can modify, work on, and watch as it develops, just has to be exciting."

[Fantastic Anarchist]

1. Fascinating! Thanks for posting. nt

[Xipe Totec]

2. The pea-sized structures reached the same level of development as in a Republican. nt

[cstanleytech]

3. Actually it exceeded the level of development of your current average Republican. nt

[Xipe Totec]

4. After factoring in Oxycontin abuse. nt

[cstanleytech]

5. Not to mention the self inflicted damage many of them endure by the

lack of oxygen from having their heads shoved up their own butts.

[Surya Gayatri]

6. DUzy! Wish I'd thought of it, XT!

[Glassunion]

7. So.... No more USB sticks?

[DreamGypsy]

8. Hey, this is Science. Take your snide socio-political comments to the Latest Breaking News thread...

...here: http://sync.democraticunderground.com/1014578662

and let the Science thread wax rhapsodic about this cool technology.

Here's the abstract from the Nature article, Cerebral organoids model human brain development and microcephaly (emphasis mine):

The complexity of the human brain has made it difficult to study many brain disorders in model organisms, highlighting the need for an in vitro model of human brain development. Here we have developed a human pluripotent stem cell-derived three-dimensional organoid culture system, termed cerebral organoids, that develop various discrete, although interdependent, brain regions. These include a cerebral cortex containing progenitor populations that organize and produce mature cortical neuron subtypes. Furthermore, cerebral organoids are shown to recapitulate features of human cortical development, namely characteristic progenitor zone organization with abundant outer radial glial stem cells. Finally, we use RNA interference and patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells to model microcephaly, a disorder that has been difficult to recapitulate in mice. We demonstrate premature neuronal differentiation in patient organoids, a defect that could help to explain the disease phenotype. Together, these data show that three-dimensional organoids can recapitulate development and disease even in this most complex human tissue.

So, what does this mean? Well, here's an image from the BBC article


A cerebral organoid - the brown pigments are a developing retina

Yeah, I know, it looks kinda like a breast. Ignore that!!

That's human brain tissue, the size of a grain of rice/pea, grown from a human stem cell or skin cell. And it's developing a retina:

In vertebrate embryonic development, the retina and the optic nerve originate as outgrowths of the developing brain, so the retina is considered part of the central nervous system (CNS) and is actually brain tissue.

That little organoid (mini-brain) is contributing its components to the development of an EYE. It's 'trying' to look at us.

That's astounding. That's beautiful.

Of course, the phenomenon is just genetic expression during development...

An immediate application:

The team has already used the breakthrough to investigate a disease called microcephaly. People with the disease develop much smaller brains.

By creating a "mini-brain" from skin cells of a patient with this condition, the team were able to study how development changed.

They showed that the cells were too keen to become neurons by specialising too early. It meant the cells in the early brain did not bulk up to a high enough number before specialising, which affected the final size of even the pea-sized "mini-brains".

A much smaller brain develops with microcephaly

This technology is very interesting and will likely lead to many advances in neuroscience.

[Surya Gayatri]

9. Thanks for the extra links and information on this amazing development, DG.

As for the "snide socio-political comments" remark, I think you meant that for Xipo Topec who made the crack about Republican brains.

I posted this in "Science", hoping to have a discussion like the one you so helpfully provided.