In a scientific first, researchers at the University of Oxford have developed 3D printed stem cells that can mimic the architecture of the cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the human brain. It is suggested that this technique could potentially be used to treat brain injuries. It is thought that this technique could be very useful if it becomes generally used.
How do 3D printed stem cells work?
Brain injuries typically cause severe damage to the cerebral cortex, leading to movement, cognition and communication difficulties. Currently, no effective treatment is available for severe cases that negatively impact patients’ quality of life. Hoping to change this, the research team produced a two-layered brain tissue by 3D printing human neural stem cells.
To produce this bilayer brain tissue, the researchers used human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), which can be easily derived from cells collected from the patients themselves, reducing the risk of immune response. Initially, hiPSCs were differentiated into neural progenitor cells for two distinct layers of the cerebral cortex.
They were then suspended in a solution to produce two “bioinks” that were printed to form a two-layered brain tissue structure. Specifically, when implanted into mouse brains, the printed cells showed both structural and functional integration with the host tissue. The senior author of the study, Dr. Linna Zhou said that the achieved development will also be applicable to humans.
The senior author of the study, Dr. “Our droplet printing technique provides a tool to design living 3D tissues with desired architectures, bringing us closer to the creation of personalized implantation treatments for brain injury,” said Linna Zhou. made his statements.
The researchers now aim to further improve their techniques and create complex, multilayered cerebral cortex tissues that can more realistically mimic the architecture of the human brain. Beyond brain injuries, these 3D-printed cells could also benefit drug evaluation and our knowledge of brain development and learning.
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