ANN ARBOR, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed a method of generating “mini-brains” without animal components, providing new ways of studying neurodegenerative diseases and treatments.

“This advancement in the development of human brain organoids free of animal components will allow for significant strides in the understanding of neurodevelopmental biology,” said senior author Joerg Lahann, Ph.D., director of the U-M Biointerfaces Institute and Wolfgang Pauli Collegiate Professor of Chemical Engineering at U-M. “Scientists have long struggled to translate animal research into the clinical world, and this novel method will make it easier for translational research to make its way from the lab to the clinic.”

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These new, artificially grown miniature brains, known as human brain organoids, provide an alternative to mouse-derived brain models currently used in neurologic research. Brain organoids were traditionally derived from mouse sarcomas, a form of mouse cancer cell, but this left samples vulnerable to variability and undefined composition.

The technique developed by U-M does away with the need for animal components, providing a better way to model the complex, three-dimensional human brain. It relies on tissues derived from embryonic or pluripotent stem cells (i.e., those that can develop into different types of cells).

The organoids used to create this process were cultured for months, while lab staff were unable to enter the building due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eventually, researchers found that the brain organoids developed cerebral spinal fluid, a clear liquid that flows around healthy brain and spinal cords. This fluid matched adult human CSF more closely than a landmark study of human brain organoids developed with the traditional mouse-derived components.

Eva Feldman, MD, PhD, director of the ALS Center of Excellence at U-M and co-author of the new study, says this could open the door to developing human brain organoids that model the brains of patients with neurodegenerative diseases.

“There is a possibility to take the stem cells from a patient with a condition such as ALS or Alzheimer’s and, essentially, build an avatar mini brain of that patients to investigate possible treatments or model how their disease will progress,” Feldman said. “These models would create another avenue to predict disease and study treatment on a personalized level for conditions that often vary greatly from person to person.”