On Wednesday, a research group at Stanford University described a possible way to study brain organoids in a more natural context: They genetically wiped out a large portion of the mouse brain and replaced it with human brain organoid cells.
In the absence of normal mouse tissue, nothing would provide the human cells with the signals that help organize them into functional units.
The researchers found a gene that is active in almost all cortical cells and used it to drive the deletion of a gene that’s needed to separate chromosomes during cell division.
With that in place, the researchers then started implanting human cortex organoids into the area where the mouse’s cortex was no longer developing.
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On Wednesday, a research group at Stanford University described a possible way to study brain organoids in a more natural context.
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In recent years, there has been a lot of excitement about the potential for studying human diseases in what are called “organoids.”
On Wednesday, a research group at Stanford University described a possible way to study brain organoids in a more natural context: They genetically wiped out a large portion of the mouse brain and replaced it with human brain organoid cells.
One alternative has been to implant human neural stem cells into the brains of another species, where they’ll generally integrate into the nervous system and actively signal to their neighbors.
The solution there is to get rid of the host cells and try to have the human cells take over their functions. In the absence of normal mouse tissue, nothing would provide the human cells with the signals that help organize them into functional units.
The Stanford team decided to test a compromise and delete a portion of the mouse’s brain and put human brain organoids in its place. The researchers found a gene that is active in almost all cortical cells and used it to drive the deletion of a gene that’s needed to separate chromosomes during cell division.
Amazingly, despite killing off most of the cells that should go on to form the mature cortex and cutting the brain’s volume in half, it was possible for the mice to survive this. (The mice were also immunocompromised to avoid an immune reaction to human cells, but this is less of an issue in a sterile mouse care facility.).
With that in place, the researchers then started implanting human cortex organoids into the area where the mouse’s cortex was no longer developing.
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