Oldest Human Brain Cells Grown in Lab 'Recorded Passage of Time'
- On Wednesday, Harvard University researchers reported growing human brain organoids for a record seven years, with peppercorn-sized clumps maturing similarly to those inside human heads.
- Normally, lab-grown organoids survive only a few months, limiting research to early developmental stages; this study overcomes those constraints by extending observation beyond initial growth phases.
- Published in the journal Nature, the study found organoids 'recorded the passage of time and retain a memory of the developmental steps already performed,' showing aging signs like myelination.
- Researchers created a 'chimera' by mixing cells from older organoids with young ones; older cells produced mature neurons, showing cells use their history to determine future behavior.
- Neuroscientist Maria Di Biase called the long-term growth 'an incredible feat,' and scientists hope these mature models will help test new medications and reveal how autism and schizophrenia progress.
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15 Articles
TVA Nouvelles
Le Journal de QuebecCreated in laboratories, tiny blocks of brain have been studied for years
Unprecedented: Scientists Have Built Miniature Brains That Experience The Passage Of Time
Our brains comprise 86 billion neurons and the trillions of connections between them, whipping up an orchestrated storm of electricity and chemicals that pulse within a 3-pound lump of jellified fat, protein, and water.
The researchers found that brain organoids continued to change and mature over the years, even though they did not develop in an embryo or human body.
Aggregates of human brain cells the size of a peppercorn, grown in the lab for about seven years - a record period - have aged in a way similar to cells in the human brain. The discovery suggests that these tiny structures have "recorded the passage of time", according to scientists, quoted by France24.
Scientists just discovered a big limitation in lab-grown minibrains — they have a skewed 'sense of time'
The brain develops in stages, and it's important that certain cells form before others so that precise neural connections can emerge later. But miniature models of the brain, called organoids, may not share this same sense of time, a new study finds. These brain organoids are clusters of lab-grown neurons that mimic structural and functional aspects of full-size brains. Some scientists use these "minibrains" to study brain disorders that can ari…
Five years in the laboratory for a brain organoid: it is the new record of survival documented for these tiny three-dimensional models of the human brain, obtained from cells cultivated in the laboratory. The result was reached by an international research group led by the Friulian biologist Paola Arlotta, of the University of Harvard, and is published on the [...] The article Brain Organoids, at Harvard the record of survival: five years in the…
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