King's College London scientists create new brain organoid system

Scientists at King's College London have developed a new brain organoid system that could speed up drug testing and genetic research.

This new system aims to reduce unwanted variability in experiments. It also allows for more experiments to be run at once, which is crucial for drug testing and genetic research.

The research could help us understand brain conditions better. It might also lead to new treatments for neurological diseases.

Big Picture Context:

In the UK, neurological conditions affect millions of people. Conditions like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and motor neurone disease place a huge burden on individuals and the NHS. Advances in understanding and treating these conditions are vital.

New Hope for Brain Research

Neural organoids are like mini-brains grown in the lab. They have huge potential for understanding how our brains work. This includes testing how brain tissue responds to drugs. It also helps investigate the effects of genetic changes on brain activity.

However, previous organoid systems had problems. They were hard to scale up, not always reproducible, and didn't last long enough for detailed study.

The King's College London team has overcome these hurdles. Their new system allows for higher throughput testing and much longer observation periods.

Professor Deepak Srivastava, Professor of Molecular Neuroscience at King's College London, said: "Our approach makes it possible to follow neural network activity over time and will allow us and others to directly compare the effects of drugs or gene variants across many parallel cultures."

Combining the Best of Both Worlds

Traditional 3D brain organoids are very diverse. This means each one is slightly different, making it hard to get consistent results. Recording electrical activity from deep within these 3D structures is also tricky.

On the other hand, 2D lab-grown neural networks allow for easier recording. But they lack the variety of cells found in real brains and 3D organoids.

The King's College London researchers wanted the best of both. They aimed to keep the diversity of 3D organoids but gain the benefits of 2D recording and scalability.

Dr Adam Pavlinek, first author on the study, explained: "The neurons in organoids have a remarkable ability of self-assembling into networks. We think the balance of neuron cell types in these networks may affect their electrical activity and may underlie the differences we see between networks."

How it Works

The team first grew organoids in the lab. Then, they broke them down into individual cells. These cells were then grown on a special plate with electrodes, called a microelectrode array.

By mixing cells from different organoids, they reduced variability. This allowed them to grow multiple neural networks on one plate.

On the microelectrode array, the neurons could develop and form networks over many days. Researchers could record their electrical activity throughout this period. This allowed for much longer monitoring than with 3D organoids.

The researchers observed neurons transitioning from asynchronous electrical activity to synchronised firing as they matured. This mirrors development in real brains.

This approach also helps separate different sources of variation in experiments. It allows scientists to see if neurons develop similar connections and respond similarly to drugs.

The research was published in Cell Reports Methods.

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OFFICIAL SOURCE VERIFICATION:

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Document: A long-term and scalable system to record from neural organoids | King's College London

Source Link: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/a-long-term-and-scalable-system-to-record-from-neural-organoids