At the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, researchers have been building 3D models of bits of living brain. In a new study appearing in Nature Biotechnology, the investigators have now come up with a technique for delivering oxygen to these organoids, growing them into more complex units, and transplanting them into living rodents.
The major achievement was that they were able to graft organoids made of human brain cells, originally derived from stem cells, into areas of mouse brains that had a lot of vasculature. The organoids settled in and grew new neurons and related structures.
The new capability should allow for new types of experiments and ways of trying different drugs and other therapies that may be effective at treating brain related conditions.
Check out this Salk Institute video about the research into brain organoids:
Study in Nature Biotechnology: An in vivo model of functional and vascularized human brain organoids…
Via: Salk…
