Stanford Medicine researchers grew human brain tissue in mice with most of their cortex removed. The human tissue survived, grew and formed working connections to the mice’s brain and spinal cord. The model revealed a rare neuron type previously seen only in autopsied human brains. It also showed human brain cells’ unique vulnerability to oxygen deprivation. The approach enables study of disorders like schizophrenia, epilepsy, autism and cerebral palsy. The mice performed similarly to normal peers in behavioral tests. Oxygen deprivation in the model mimicked cerebral palsy symptoms. The method may accelerate testing of interventions for neurodevelopmental disorders. Sergiu Pasca led the study published in Nature. The work builds on earlier organoid and assembloid research by the same team.
What changed
Human brain tissue could only be studied in dishes or post-mortem, with limited maturity and no integration into living systems.
What it unlocks
Studying human brain development and disorders in a living, behaving animal model with integrated human brain circuits.
- 1 in 20 US adults with severe psychiatric illness
- 1 in 100 adults with schizophrenia
- 1 in 218 US children with profound autism
- 3 in 1,000 Americans with cerebral palsy
What you need to act on it
- special bioengineered mice lacking most cerebral cortex
- surgical transplantation of human cortical organoids
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