{"id":21446,"date":"2021-09-08T12:43:42","date_gmt":"2021-09-08T06:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/?p=21446"},"modified":"2021-09-08T12:43:44","modified_gmt":"2021-09-08T06:58:44","slug":"scientists-grow-miniature-brains-that-mimic-the-major-pathological-features-of-parkinsons-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/scientists-grow-miniature-brains-that-mimic-the-major-pathological-features-of-parkinsons-disease\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists grow miniature brains that mimic the major pathological features of Parkinson\u2019s disease"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Tiny brains-in-a-dish that mimic the major pathological features of Parkinson\u2019s disease have been made for the first time. The research, led by scientists from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)\u2019s Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), the National Neuroscience Institute (NNI) and Duke-NUS Medical School, published in the Annals of Neurology<\/em><\/a>, offers a new way to study how the degenerative brain disease progresses and explore possible new treatments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parkinson\u2019s disease is a common age-related neurodegenerative disorder affecting three in 1,000 Singaporeans aged 50 years and above. Worldwide, neurological disorders are the leading cause of disability, and Parkinson\u2019s disease is the fastest growing disorder. Prior research has mostly relied on mice, which do not reproduce all major pathological features seen in patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRecreating models of Parkinson\u2019s disease in animal models is hard as these do not show the progressive and selective loss of neurons that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine, a major feature of Parkinson\u2019s disease,\u201d said Prof Ng Huck Hui<\/a>, Senior Group Leader at GIS, A*STAR, who is a senior co-author of the study. \u201cAnother limitation is that experimental mouse models of Parkinson\u2019s disease do not develop characteristic clumps of proteins called Lewy bodies, which are often seen in the brain cells of people with Parkinson\u2019s disease and a type of progressive dementia known as Lewy body dementia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team decided to turn to human mini-brains that they created previously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe called these \u2018human midbrain-like organoids\u2019,\u201d said first author Dr Junghyun Jo, previously a Research Fellow at GIS and now a Principal Investigator at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University. \u201cThey are essentially three-dimensional, multicellular, in vitro<\/em> tissue constructs that mimic the human midbrain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The small pea-sized human midbrain-like organoids are grown from human stem cells into a bundle of neurons and other cells found in the brain. The organoids enable scientists to study how the human brain develops and communicates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese experiments are the first to recreate the distinctive features of Parkinson\u2019s disease that we see only in human patients,\u201d said Associate Professor Hyunsoo Shawn Je<\/a>, a senior co-author from the Neuroscience and Behavioural Disorders Programme<\/a> at Duke-NUS. \u201cWe have created a new model of the pathology involved, which will allow us to track how the disease develops and how it might be slowed down or stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By manipulating the DNA of the starting stem cells to match genetic risk factors found in patients with Parkinson\u2019s disease, the study scientists were able to grow organoids with neurons that showed both Lewy bodies and the progressive loss of dopamine-producing neurons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a major challenge to extend healthy living years in an ageing global population, whose physical and cognitive performance often declines due to neurodegenerative disorders,\u201d said Professor Tan Eng King<\/a>, Deputy Medical Director, Academic Affairs, at NNI, a senior co-author of the study. \u201cThis discovery provides insights and a \u2018humanised\u2019 disease model that can facilitate drug testing against Parkinson\u2019s disease and dementia. Our organoid model with a genetic mutation on the GBA gene is also highly relevant as we have several of these genetic mutation carriers locally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organoid system will enable research into Parkinson\u2019s disease and other conditions not possible with current animal models. The team is already using organoids to investigate why and how Lewy bodies form in human brain cells, and screen drugs that can potentially stop disease progression.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tiny brains-in-a-dish that mimic the major pathological features of Parkinson\u2019s disease have been made for the first time. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-research"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/organoids-in-dish.jpeg",1100,753,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/organoids-in-dish-200x200.jpeg",200,200,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/organoids-in-dish-584x400.jpeg",584,400,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/organoids-in-dish-768x526.jpeg",750,514,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/organoids-in-dish-675x462.jpeg",675,462,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/organoids-in-dish.jpeg",1100,753,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/organoids-in-dish.jpeg",1100,753,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/organoids-in-dish.jpeg",1100,753,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/organoids-in-dish.jpeg",833,570,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/organoids-in-dish.jpeg",600,411,false],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/organoids-in-dish.jpeg",600,411,false],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/organoids-in-dish-760x490.jpeg",760,490,true],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/organoids-in-dish-550x360.jpeg",550,360,true],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/organoids-in-dish-95x65.jpeg",95,65,true],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/organoids-in-dish.jpeg",640,438,false],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/organoids-in-dish.jpeg",96,66,false],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/organoids-in-dish.jpeg",150,103,false]},"author_info":{"info":["RevoScience"]},"category_info":"Health<\/a> Research<\/a>","tag_info":"Research","comment_count":"1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}