Brain Tissue Created from Stem Cells

Japanese researchers have recently published a breakthrough paper about using stem cells. The scientists used stem cells to create viable brain tissue. These researchers were able to create brain tissue of the cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex is part of the brain's outer layer and is located close to a person's skull. The researchers coaxed the neurons to organize into 4 distinct layers. They discovered that the the brain tissue showed signs of neural activity. In the past I've mentioned about researchers creating neurons from stem cells. However, those previous experiments mostly created single neurons for implantation. This is the first time that such a large collection of brain cells has been created that actually resembles real brain tissue. This is basically tissue engineering and is a much more difficult feat to accomplish than making single neurons. Aggregating a large number of brain cells in the proper 3-dimensional pattern to mimic real brain tissue is a significant step up from previous achievements. Implanting single neurons is of limited utility for many brain disorders. Whole brain tissue, on the other hand, can potentially ameliorate many brain disorders.

In the future this technique may allow scientists to create brain tissue to repair damaged brains. The cortical neurons that they created are functional and transplantable. Currently the amount of brain tissue they created is not enough to repair damage for people like stroke patients. However, I think scientists will increasingly get better in the future at synthesizing brain tissue. This type of brain tissue could also be used to run various experiments and test out different drugs. Creating most areas of the brain from stem cells may eventually become a reality.

Here's the abstract from the paper.

Here, we demonstrate self-organized formation of apico-basally polarized cortical tissues from ESCs using an efficient three-dimensional aggregation culture (SFEBq culture). The generated cortical neurons are functional, transplantable, and capable of forming proper long-range connections in vivo and in vitro. The regional identity of the generated pallial tissues can be selectively controlled (into olfactory bulb, rostral and caudal cortices, hem, and choroid plexus) by secreted patterning factors such as Fgf, Wnt, and BMP. In addition, the in vivo-mimicking birth order of distinct cortical neurons permits the selective generation of particular layer-specific neurons by timed induction of cell-cycle exit. Importantly, cortical tissues generated from mouse and human ESCs form a self-organized structure that includes four distinct zones (ventricular, early and late cortical-plate, and Cajal-Retzius cell zones) along the apico-basal direction. Thus, spatial and temporal aspects of early corticogenesis are recapitulated and can be manipulated in this ESC culture.