Mini-brain with parkinsonism
Researchers from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) of the Singapore Institute of Genomics, the National Institute of Neuroscience (NNI) and the Duke-NUS Medical School have proposed a new way to study the development of Parkinson's disease and search for possible new treatments.
Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disease affecting three out of 1,000 Singaporeans aged 50 years and older. Neurological disorders are the main cause of disability all over the world, and Parkinson's disease is being diagnosed more and more every year. Previous studies devoted to the study of the development of the disease and the search for new treatment methods were mainly conducted on mouse models that do not reproduce all the main pathological features observed in patients.
Creating animal models of Parkinson's disease is difficult because they do not reproduce the progressive and selective loss of dopamine neurons, which is the main feature of Parkinson's disease. In addition, experimental animal models do not show the accumulation of Levi's bodies – characteristic protein clots in the brain cells of people with Parkinson's disease.
The researchers tried to recreate the disease on brain organoids that they had developed earlier.
The photo shows three-dimensional multicellular structures of tissues that mimic the human midbrain. They consist of neurons and other brain cells derived from pluripotent stem cells. By manipulating the DNA of the original stem cells in accordance with the genetic risk factors found in patients with Parkinson's disease, the scientists recreated mutations in the genes of glucocerebrosidase and α-synuclein. This made it possible to grow organoids with neurons that demonstrated both Levi's corpuscles and the progressive loss of dopamine-producing neurons.
The organoid system will allow to study Parkinson's disease and other conditions that are difficult to reproduce in animal models, as well as to test experimental drugs against these diseases. The group is already using organoids to investigate the causes of the appearance of Levi's cells in neurons and to select drugs that can potentially stop the progression of the disease.
Article J.Jo et al. Lewy Body–like Inclusions in Human Midbrain Organoids Carrying Glucocerebrosidase and α-Synuclein Mutations are published in the journal Annals of Neurology.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on materials from Duke-NUS Medical School: Scientists grow miniature brains that mimic the major pathological features of Parkinson's disease.