Cyborgs on a chip
Biologists have figured out how to grow cyborganoids from stem cells
Yulia Vorobyova, Vesti
What happens in the first days of organ development? How does a small group of cells turn into a heart, brain, or kidney? How will this or that medicine affect this or that human organ?
Scientists are trying to answer these questions by creating miniature three-dimensional models of human organs, known as "organs-on-a-chip".
Scientists have even tried to create a single "organism-on-a-chip" from such organs grown over the past few years.
It is believed that experiments with such models will help researchers and physicians not only learn more about key biological processes in the body, but also understand the nature of many diseases, check the effect of certain drugs. Such tests can be more informative than tests with flat cell cultures grown in Petri dishes, and even animal experiments.
However, there is one important nuance. The results of studies with model animals, cell cultures, and even with "organs-on-a-chip" do not always correlate with clinical ones.
There is another problem. There are still no sensors that are small enough and flexible enough to be used to monitor key biological processes without damaging cells.
The solution to this problem was proposed by researchers from the Harvard John Paulson School of Technical and Applied Sciences. They have created simplified organs with sensors fully integrated into them. They were called organoids-cyborgs, or cyborgoids.
The goal was to develop nanoelectronics that will be so flexible, stretchable and soft that sensors will be able to "grow" together with the tissue during its natural development, simultaneously recording all the activity of the "host", explains senior author of the study Jia Liu (Jia Liu).
First, he and his colleagues created a flexible network of nanoelectronic sensors that can be inserted into certain areas of tissue.
Then the team increased the extensibility indicators by changing the structure of the grid: instead of straight lines, serpentine structures appeared (similar to those used in wearable electronics).
At the next stage, the specialists placed this grid on a two-dimensional layer of stem cells. When the latter began to turn into three-dimensional organoid structures, the electronic grid adjusted to this process by changing its configuration. As a result, 3D organoids with fully integrated sensors were grown (the cells "populated" this winding network).
"The end result is a piece of fabric with a nanoscale device inside, fully distributed and integrated throughout the three–dimensional volume of the fabric," Jia Liu reports.
The nanoelectronic grid embedded in the organoids has a sinuous structure that allows it to stretch while maintaining all the performance characteristics. Photo from the Cyborg organoids press release offer rare view into early stages of development.
In the next experiment, the researchers differentiated stem cells into cardiac muscle cells, cardiomyocytes. After that, the built-in sensors were used to monitor and record cell activity for 90 days.
"This method will allow us to continuously monitor the development process and understand how individual cells begin to interact and synchronize throughout the development process [of the organ]. It can be used to transform any organoid into a cyborgoid, including organoids of the brain and pancreas," said Jia Liu.
His team hopes that thanks to cyborg organoids, it will be possible not only to get answers to fundamental questions of biology, but also to identify new strategies for developing effective drugs and other treatment methods.
In addition, cyborganoids can be used to test new drugs and monitor the effect of drugs on the body of specific patients.
More information about the innovative development is described in an article presented in the journal Nano Letters (Li et al., Cyborg Organoids: Implantation of Nanoelectronics via Organogenesis for Tissue-Wide Electrophysiology).
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