Organoids are small organs that are grown from stem cells in vitro. The neat thing is that they contain all the different tissues that grow in the actual full-sized organ.
An organoid is a collection of organ-specific cell types that develops from stem cells or organ progenitors, self-organizes through cell sorting and spatially restricted lineage commitment in a manner similar to in vivo, and exhibits the following properties:
it has multiple organ-specific cell types;
it is capable of recapitulating some specific function of the organ (e.g. contraction, neural activity, endocrine secretion, filtration, excretion);
its cells are grouped together and spatially organized, similar to an organ.
Heart organoids beat. Brain organoids are three-dimensional (3D) structures derived from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) that reflect early brain organization. These organoids contain different cell types, including neurons and glia, similar to those found in the human brain. Cerebral organoids may experience “simple sensations” in response to external stimulation and neuroscientists are among those expressing concern that such organs could develop sentience.
I find organoids to be a little creepy but also totally cool.
Recent research used human brain organoids to study whether a prion disease, chronic wasting disease (CWD) from white-tailed deer, mule deer, and elk, could transfer to humans.
I’m sure that future research will find many ways to use organoids for practical purposes.
Obvious possibilities are things like kidneys or livers for transplant. If grown from a patient’s own stem cells, it might be possible to dispense with the powerful anti-rejection drugs that required today.
But I also think of things like brain cells. Could organoid cells integrate into the brain and restore function lost to brain injuries, stroke, and, close to home for me, cerebral palsy?
Sometimes science scares me with what they are doing. Other times I become hopeful for the future. This is one of the hopeful developments.
Currently, organoids are being used for research and not therapeutically. But the entire science is only 15 years old. It’s not a stretch to think that your idea will be tested in animals before being tested in humans. The benefits would be immense in both quality of life and financial terms if it worked.
And I forgot to mention Alzheimers and other forms of dementia.
Of course, there’s the dark side, too. Just as we had lobotomies in the not that distant past, if these organoids can restore brain function, could they also be able to be used to modify behavior? I can imagine all sorts of nefarious uses for that. (A couple good ones, too.)
I’ll start worrying about that once we see organs grown for transplant - which strikes me as exceeding complex, yet an order of magnitude (or two!) simpler than dealing with the brain.
@steve203 embryonic stem cell research has been politicized but the newer, more advanced type of stem cell research uses adult tissues that have been chemically regressed back to stem cells. Nobody finds that problematic. In fact, it’s the way to get tissue that matches a potential organ recipient. Skin would be taken from the (adult) person who needs the transplant, regressed to stem cells, then grown into the organ that’s needed.
@ptheland your “nefarious uses” is pure conspiracy imaginings.
Let’s say that a person has cerebral palsy.
An MRI shows damage to the white matter in a specific spot in the brain that controls movement. A small piece of skin is removed from the patient, regressed to stem cells which are then grown into a white matter neuron organoid.
This organoid is then transplanted into the area of the brain that MRI shows isn’t functioning.
If it connects and begins to function it will act as wiring that enables control of the body.
You can see that there’s no scenario here that would modify behavior.
Wendy