Tufts University now has a mind of its own.
The bio-engineers at the university have grown 3D artificial tissue that replicates the human brain, including some of its functions. The artificial tissues was created to help study how the brain is impacted by injuries or illness or even drugs.
In the past, scientists have grown single neurons that did not have the complexity of the actual brain. Networks of neurons have been grown in gel, but they only lasted for 24 hours. This new brain tissue lasted for over two months, allowing more time-based research.
This new artificial brain tissue also has an increase in complexity compared to past lab-grown material, offering tissue that features both the grey matter and the white matter of the brain, to better replicate how a human brain would react to different stimuli.
"There are few good options for studying the physiology of the living brain, yet this is perhaps one of the biggest areas of unmet clinical need when you consider the need for new options to understand and treat a wide range of neurological disorders associated with the brain. To generate this system that has such great value is very exciting for our team," said David L. Kaplan, who led the research.
The 3D brain tissue is made of a silk scaffold that resembles a circular sponge combined with a collagen-based gel. It features both neurons and axons, with the neurons being derived from rats, where as the connecting axons are made with the gel.
Tufts researchers will now work toward making this artificial brain matter more complex and with different kinds of neurons, for improved brain research.
The brain material was revealed in the article "Bioengineered functional brain-like cortical tissue," of the latest edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The paper was written by Min D. Tang-Schomer, James D. White, Lee W. Tien, L. Ian Schmitt, Thomas M. Valentin, Daniel J. Graziano, Amy M. Hopkins, Fiorenzo G. Omenetto, Philip G. Haydon and David L. Kaplan.
The artifical tissue was created at the Tissue Engineering Resource Center at Tufts University. The research was funded by the National Institute of Bio-medical Imaging and Bio-engineering.
