2023-05-23 10:45:48
Organoids, grown in laboratories, are small, simplified versions of organs that closely emulate how organs form and act in the body. Organoids have turned out to be very useful in finding out details about how organs in the human body grow and how diseases that affect them develop. It has been possible to generate organoids from many human organs, such as the liver, kidney and brain. Brain organoids, since this is the source of our consciousness and our individual identity as beings, have raised many moral doubts and, consequently, strong controversy, although they are a good way to investigate neurological diseases that affect brain development.
Scientists at the German Primate Center (DPZ) have devised an effective method for genetically modifying brain organoids.
Primates are highly intelligent creatures. Their brains have a complex structure and are relatively large relative to the size of the rest of their bodies. However, it is still not very clear how the human brain has developed throughout evolution and which genes are responsible for its high cognitive abilities.
The better we understand the role of genes in brain development, the more likely we are to develop treatments for serious brain diseases. Researchers meet this challenge by knocking out or turning on individual genes to see what happens and draw conclusions about each gene’s role in brain development.
To avoid animal experiments as far as possible, brain organoids are used as an alternative. These three-dimensional cell structures, just a few millimeters in size, reflect different stages of brain development and can be genetically modified.
However, such modifications have been proving very complex, lengthy and expensive.
Brain organoid of a rhesus macaque monkey. (Photo: Nesil Eşiyok)
The team led by Lidiia Tynianskaia and Michael Heide, both from the German Primate Center, has now succeeded in genetically manipulating brain organoids quickly and efficiently. The procedure requires only a few days instead of the usual time frame of several months and can be used for organoids from different primate species.
“The method is equally suitable for brain organoids from humans, chimpanzees, rhesus macaque monkeys, and common marmosets,” summarizes Heide. “This allows us to perform comparative studies on physiological and evolutionary brain development in primates and is also an effective tool for simulating genetically induced neurological malformations without having to use monkeys in animal experiments.”
Tynianskaia and her colleagues discuss the technical details of their method in the Journal of Visualized Experiments, under the title “Targeted Microinjection and Electroporation of Primate Cerebral Organoids for Genetic Modification.” (Fountain: NCYT de Amazings)
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