3D mini organs created from human fetus' brain tissue

The human , with its complexities and vast functions, is a tough organ for scientists and researchers to crack. They have devised new methods to explore the intricacies of brain development. Researchers from the Princess Máxima Center in the Netherlands developed one of these methods. They have created 3D mini organs resembling human brain tissue, which can help them in their cancer drug research.

They took an untraditional approach They used fetal cells in a laboratory and grew the mini organs, also called organoids, in a petri dish. These organoids can be generated directly from tissue cells or by guiding stem cells to develop into specific organs. The organoids which closely replicate the functions of real organs have the unique ability to self organize and replicate the functions of real organs.

Traditionally, brain organoids are grown in the lab by coaxing stem cells to form structures resembling different parts of the brain, but the researchers took a different approach. They created brain organoids directly from small pieces of human fetal brain tissue. These brain organoids, approximately the size of a grain of rice, exhibited a complex 3D structure containing various types of brain cells, including outer radial glia, a cell type found in humans and our evolutionary ancestors.

‘Brain organoids from fetal tissue are an invaluable new tool to study human brain development. We can now more easily study how the developing brain expands and look at the role of different cell types and their environment,” said Dr Benedetta Artegiani, research group leader and co leader at the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology.

Remarkably, the tissue derived organoids grew for over six months and could be multiplied, allowing researchers to generate similar organoids from one tissue sample. What did they find? The researchers found that these tissue derived organoids retained specific characteristics of the brain region from which they originated.

They responded to signaling molecules crucial for brain development, suggesting their potential to unravel the intricate network of molecules directing brain development. The team also explored the tissue derived organoids' potential in modeling brain cancer. By introducing faults in the TP53 gene using the CRISPR Cas9 gene editing technique, explained the researchers in a press release, they observed that the cells with defective TP53 outpaced healthy cells in the organoid after three months, resembling a typical feature of cancer cells.

They further investigated the organoids' response to gene mutations linked to , a type of brain tumor, and explored their use in testing existing cancer drugs. ‘These new fetal tissue derived organoids can offer novel insights into what shapes the different brain regions and what creates cellular diversity,” said Dr Delilah Hendriks, who co led the research.

“Our organoids are an important addition to the brain organoid field, that can complement the existing organoids made from pluripotent stem cells. We hope to learn from both models to decode the complexity of the human brain,” added Dr Hendriks. The researchers plan further to explore the potential of these new tissue derived brain organoids and collaborate with bioethicists to guide their future development and applications responsibly.

The was published in the journal ..