Artificial mini brains can produce blood vessels themselves

What a brilliant discovery for humans when artificial mini brains can produce blood vessels today !

In 2015, Brown University scientists successfully developed a "mini brain" from the model created by 3D implantation of living nerve cells. The original aim of the scientists was to create a new model specimen that could help reduce human dependence on animal testing in finding and studying the effects of drugs, the Brain treatment and injury. Clinical trials on this mini brain can make the results more accurate.

But recently, scientists have discovered a surprising new thing about these mini brains: neurons are developing their blood vessels. This is an unexpected achievement for scientists. They could not foresee that neurons are electrically active, producing some types of brain neurons and arranging themselves in a natural three-dimensional structure .

However, producing only nerve cells is not enough. A brain needs more blood vessels to make the "transport system" transport blood to feed it. But as researchers continued to work with these models, they found that about two-thirds of the mini brain developed blood vessels.

"It's interesting because the brain actually has blood vessels," said Diane Hoffman-Kim, the study's lead author. " We are in-depth understanding of it. Our neurons have carried out their own tasks. What they create is very close to some blood vessels. If we continue to study the model The brain's lab, we will get more surprises by raising these mini brains so that they can also own their own blood vessels. "

Transverse slices of artificial mini brains.

By taking photos of small brain blood vessels, the researchers were able to identify cells and proteins as they could be found in normal blood vessels. With a transect study under an electron microscope, they revealed that the vascular tubes have a suitable structure to carry the blood to the brain. This system is not as dense as in a real brain and they tend to remain only for a week or two. But this finding adds to the usefulness of the mini-brain.

"We can study a variety of injury conditions with many drugs being tested and some evil diseases - such as stroke and diabetes - about how well they fit together , " Hoffman-Kim mentioned more.

The mini brain itself creates blood vessels that opens a new door for better research on stroke, Alzheimer's disease and other types of neurological attacks just thanks to the mini brain instead of animals like before. The study was published in The Journal of Neuroscience Methods. Brown University team of scientists illustrated their findings in the video below.

The video illustrates a new discovery about the mini brain of Brown University scientists