Scientists have developed small brains in the laboratory from human stem cells that have developed enough awareness to send "nerve signals" to connect to the spinal cord and muscle tissue of mice, in order to flex muscles.
"We would like to see them as small brains about to move," said Madeleine Lancaster of the University of Cambridge, who led the experiment at the Molecular Biology Laboratory of the Medical Research Council and published it in Nature: Neuroscience.
In the experiment, the co-author, Stefano Giandomenico, helped develop a method to cultivate a slice of organic brain material on a membrane in the air-liquid interface, allowing access to the nutrient-rich liquid media below, oxygen in the air above , Microbial in the petri dish for a longer period, so that it can mature more.
The micro-brain has similar structures and processes, which occurs in the developing human brain during week 12-16 of pregnancy. It also contains millions of neurons, similar in ability to those found in cockroaches.
In spite of the speed of maturation of small brains, they are still very small and lack the full "ammunition" and the organization of brain areas needed for higher perception.
An advanced study can have important implications for treating a range of diseases, including schizophrenia, autism and depression.
