Development of microglial-containing human brain organoids
2021
Rutgers University, Piscataway, USA
Microglia is an essential actor in brain physiology. In recent years, human pluripotent stem cells are surging as a reliable tool to generate specific cell types to incorporate in in vitro models. Nonetheless, there are still no optimised protocols to properly recapitulate microglia differentiation in in vivo brain development. Here, human pluripotent stem cells-derived neural and macrophage progenitor cells were used to generate region-specific brain organoids that contain microglia. The results showed that the generation of organoids had a controllable microglia ratio and that the microglial cells were physiologically functional. Moreover, Zika virus infection efficiently triggered microglial responses. Overall, the researchers establish a new protocol replicating in vivo neurodevelopment for the generation of organoids including microglia that could potentially be used to study microglial physiology and its role in neurological disorders.
Developing human pluripotent stem cell-based cerebral organoids with a controllable microglia ratio for modeling brain development and pathology
Peng Jiang, Ranjie Xu
Added on: 11-29-2021
[1] https://www.cell.com/stem-cell-reports/fulltext/S2213-6711(21)00317-9
