Grafted Organoids Provide Insight.

• Position: NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS

Many neurological disorders--Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, autism, even depression--have lagged behind in new therapies. Because the brain is so complex, it can be difficult to discover new drugs and, even when a drug is promising in animal models, it often does not work for humans.

Scientists are aiming to change that with stem cell technology by taking skin cells from a patient and turning those cells into neurons. Researchers then can test new drugs and study the development of disease in these lab-grown neurons, and even test the potential to use these "personalized neurons" for tissue replacement via transplantation to cure a damaged part of the brain.

However, while biologists already have had success in growing tiny, stem cell-based brain-like "organoids" in dishes or test tubes for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, these model systems still are a long way from representing the complexity of the brain.

Scientists from the Salk Institute, La Jolla, Calif., report a new approach that can develop more-sophisticated organoid models by ensuring they receive sufficient oxygen and other nutrients via transplantation into rodents. The work, published in Nature Biotechnology, could yield...