The first functional 3D printed brain tissue has been developed to examine the function of the human brain and study various neurological diseases.
According to experts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, printed tissue can "grow and function like typical brain tissue."
This 3D-printed brain model may help study a variety of neurological and neurodevelopmental problems, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
This could be a very powerful model that could help us understand how brain cells and parts of the brain communicate in humans," said Su-Chun Zhang, professor of neuroscience and neurology at the Wisman Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
It could change the way we look at stem cell biology, neuroscience, and the pathogenesis of many neurological and psychiatric disorders," Zhang added in the press release.
Instead of using the traditional vertical layer stacking method, the researchers adopted an innovative horizontal 3D printing method.
Neurons generated from induced pluripotent stem cells are carefully layered using softer bioink gels to create a more favorable environment for growth.
The tissue still has enough structure to hold it together, but it's soft enough for neurons to grow and start talking to each other," Zhang said.
The developers mentioned that they deliberately kept the tissue thin to ensure optimal oxygen and nutrient intake for the neurons from the surrounding growth medium.
Multilayer printing allows cells to form connections that produce networks similar to those observed in the human brain.
In these networks, neurons appear to actively communicate by sending signals to each other. This communication occurs through neurotransmitters, which are chemical messengers that help in transmitting signals between neurons.
We printed the cerebral cortex and striatum, and the results we found were amazing. Even if we print different cells that belong to different parts of the brain, they can still talk to each other in a very special and specific way," Zhang said in a press release.
The authors emphasize that this method provides precision, allowing control of cell types and arrangement. This characteristic is not present in cerebral organoids, which are miniature laboratory-cultured organs created for brain research.
This 3D printing method developed to mimic complex communications and networks in human brain tissue has great potential to provide insight into brain function and its diseases.