Scientists at the John van Geest Brain Restoration Center at the University of Cambridge in England have developed a “mini brain” from human skin cells in the laboratory. Observing the organoid will allow researchers to understand how early symptoms of dementia develop and test the work of new drugs. In this respect reports TimesNewsUk.
Dementia is a disease based on long-term progressive deterioration of the cognitive functions of the brain. A person receiving such a diagnosis gradually loses the ability to think, remember, count, recognize objects and people. Some types of diseases, such as frontotemporal dementia, are hereditary, meaning they are caused by DNA defects.
Scientists used stem cells obtained from the skin of patients with frontotemporal dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies to create a “mini brain”. Stem cells are undifferentiated (immature) cells found in the human body that have the ability to divide and differentiate into special cells, that is, to turn into various organ and tissue cells. Using this ability of stem cells, scientists have developed an organoid with a three-dimensional architecture, cell type diversity, and cell-cell interactions similar to the human cerebral cortex during embryonic and fetal development.
Thanks to the new approach, scientists were able to observe changes occurring in brain cells at a very early stage: damage to DNA and changes in the way DNA codes for proteins. The drug GSK2606414 has already been tested on a brain model and it turned out to be effective in reducing cellular stress and repairing damaged neurons.
It was before was created A nanochip that detects signs of Alzheimer’s disease long before the first symptoms.