A Static Self-Directed Method for Generating Brain Organoids from Human Embryonic Stem Cells.

Human brain organoids differentiated from embryonic stem cells offer the unique opportunity to study complicated interactions of multiple cell types in a three-dimensional system. Here we present a relatively straightforward and inexpensive method that yields brain organoids. In this protocol human pluripotent stem cells are broken into small clusters instead of single cells and grown in basic media without a heterologous basement membrane matrix or exogenous growth factors, allowing the intrinsic developmental cues to shape the organoid's growth.

Minocycline mitigates the effect of neonatal hypoxic insult on human brain organoids.

Neonatal hypoxic injury (NHI) is a devastating cause of disease that affects >60% of babies born with a very low birth weight, resulting in significant morbidity and mortality, including life-long neurological consequences such as seizures, cerebral palsy, and intellectual disability. Hypoxic injury results in increased neuronal death, which disrupts normal brain development. Although animal model systems have been useful to study the effects of NHI, they do not fully represent the uniqueness and complexities of the human brain.

The Specification and Maturation of Nociceptive Neurons from Human Embryonic Stem Cells.

Nociceptive neurons play an essential role in pain sensation by transmitting painful stimuli to the central nervous system. However, investigations of nociceptive neuron biology have been hampered by the lack of accessibility of human nociceptive neurons. Here, we describe a system for efficiently guiding human embryonic stem cells into nociceptive neurons by first inducing these cells to the neural lineage.

The specification of telencephalic glutamatergic neurons from human pluripotent stem cells.

Here, a stepwise procedure for efficiently generating telencephalic glutamatergic neurons from human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) has been described. The differentiation process is initiated by breaking the human PSCs into clumps which round up to form aggregates when the cells are placed in a suspension culture. The aggregates are then grown in hESC medium from days 1-4 to allow for spontaneous differentiation.