小柯机器人

近日，美国加州大学洛杉矶分校教授Bennett G. Novitch团队发现，人脑类器官可用于检测神经振荡和癫痫样变化。相关论文于2021年8月23日在线发表在《自然—神经科学》杂志上。

研究人员使用钙传感器成像和细胞外记录的方法来探索了大脑类器官的网络级功能，这些方法共同揭示了复杂网络动态的存在，类似于完整的大脑。研究人员证明了从雷特综合症患者的诱导多能干细胞衍生的类器官中存在高度异常和类似癫痫的活动，并伴随着单细胞分析显示的转录组差异。研究人员还用一种非常规的神经调控药物pifithrin-α来挽救了关键的生理活动。这些发现为利用脑器官研究完整和紊乱的人类大脑网络形成提供了重要基础，并说明了它们在治疗发现中的效用。

据介绍，脑器官是研究人类神经系统疾病的有力工具，特别是那些影响大脑生长和结构的疾病。然而，许多疾病在没有解剖学变化的情况下表现出明显的生理和网络异常，这就提出了一个问题：类器官是否拥有足够的神经网络复杂性来模拟这些情况。

附：英文原文

Title: Identification of neural oscillations and epileptiform changes in human brain organoids

Author: Samarasinghe, Ranmal A., Miranda, Osvaldo A., Buth, Jessie E., Mitchell, Simon, Ferando, Isabella, Watanabe, Momoko, Allison, Thomas F., Kurdian, Arinnae, Fotion, Namie N., Gandal, Michael J., Golshani, Peyman, Plath, Kathrin, Lowry, William E., Parent, Jack M., Mody, Istvan, Novitch, Bennett G.

Issue&Volume: 2021-08-23

Abstract: Brain organoids represent a powerful tool for studying human neurological diseases, particularly those that affect brain growth and structure. However, many diseases manifest with clear evidence of physiological and network abnormality in the absence of anatomical changes, raising the question of whether organoids possess sufficient neural network complexity to model these conditions. Here, we explore the network-level functions of brain organoids using calcium sensor imaging and extracellular recording approaches that together reveal the existence of complex network dynamics reminiscent of intact brain preparations. We demonstrate highly abnormal and epileptiform-like activity in organoids derived from induced pluripotent stem cells from individuals with Rett syndrome, accompanied by transcriptomic differences revealed by single-cell analyses. We also rescue key physiological activities with an unconventional neuroregulatory drug, pifithrin-α. Together, these findings provide an essential foundation for the utilization of brain organoids to study intact and disordered human brain network formation and illustrate their utility in therapeutic discovery.

DOI: 10.1038/s41593-021-00906-5

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-021-00906-5

Nature Neuroscience：《自然—神经科学》，创刊于1998年。隶属于施普林格·自然出版集团，最新IF：28.771
官方网址：https://www.nature.com/neuro/
投稿链接：https://mts-nn.nature.com/cgi-bin/main.plex