Brain organoid protocols and limitations

Helen H Zhao; Gabriel Haddad

doi:10.3389/fncel.2024.1351734

Brain organoid protocols and limitations

Front Cell Neurosci. 2024 Mar 20:18:1351734. doi: 10.3389/fncel.2024.1351734. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Helen H Zhao¹, Gabriel Haddad^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States.
² Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States.
³ The Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego, CA, United States.

Abstract

Stem cell-derived organoid technology is a powerful tool that revolutionizes the field of biomedical research and extends the scope of our understanding of human biology and diseases. Brain organoids especially open an opportunity for human brain research and modeling many human neurological diseases, which have lagged due to the inaccessibility of human brain samples and lack of similarity with other animal models. Brain organoids can be generated through various protocols and mimic whole brain or region-specific. To provide an overview of brain organoid technology, we summarize currently available protocols and list several factors to consider before choosing protocols. We also outline the limitations of current protocols and challenges that need to be solved in future investigation of brain development and pathobiology.

Keywords: cerebral organoid; human diseases; limitations; protocol; stem cell.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant (1R01DA053372).