Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Highlight
  • Published:

Organoids

Chimeric brain organoids

Nature Reviews Bioengineering volume 2, page 635 (2024)Cite this article

Subjects

Brain organoids are 3D human cell culture models that can recapitulate key aspects of neurodevelopment and enable the in vitro study of the human brain. To generate brain organoids, small molecules are typically used to differentiate pluripotent or induced pluripotent stem cells into neural progenitor cells, followed by their further patterning into the diverse cell types that make up a developing brain, including projection neurons, radial glia and interneurons. Brain organoids can also be generated from patient cells to model patient-specific diseases or to assess an individual’s response to treatments. However, stem cells derived from different donors typically differ in their growth rates and can behave differently under the same culture conditions, making it challenging to evaluate individual variations in cell response and fate in organoid disease models.

The team first attempted to generate chimeroids by mixing pluripotent stem cells from donors in equal proportions, but they found that certain cell lines tended to dominate the organoids as they matured. “This has been a major technical challenge in the organoid field, as single donors ‘take over’ the culture over time, even if the mixtures were initially donor-balanced,” explains Arlotta.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

Original article

  • Antón-Bolaños, N. et al. Brain Chimeroids reveal individual susceptibility to neurotoxic triggers. Nature 631, 142–149 (2024)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nature Reviews Bioengineering https://www.nature.com/natrevbioeng/

    Caroline Beyer

Authors
  1. Caroline Beyer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Caroline Beyer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Beyer, C. Chimeric brain organoids. Nat Rev Bioeng 2, 635 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44222-024-00229-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44222-024-00229-7

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Translational Research

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Translational Research newsletter — top stories in biotechnology, drug discovery and pharma.

Get what matters in translational research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Translational Research