Overview
- A team led by Paola Arlotta reported on Wednesday that human cerebral organoids were cultivated and tracked for several years and showed gene-expression stages that match fetal and newborn brain development.
- The researchers used epigenetic “biological age” clocks and single-cell analysis to show that organoid molecular age closely tracked chronological culture time.
- When older and younger cells were mixed into chimeric aggregates, the older cells skipped earlier steps and produced more mature progeny, supporting a cell-intrinsic developmental “clock.”
- Organoids developed supporting cells and markers of myelination and sustained neuronal electrical activity for extended periods, but the model lacks blood vessels, sensory inputs and some timing cues, and the tissues used in the study have been destroyed.
- Funders and authors say the multi-year system could let scientists study later-emerging conditions such as autism and schizophrenia and test ways to add missing external signals like vasculature or metabolic cues to improve fidelity.