Reliability of high-quantity human brain organoids for modeling microcephaly, glioma invasion and drug screening.

Brain organoids offer unprecedented insights into brain development and disease modeling and hold promise for drug screening. Significant hindrances, however, are morphological and cellular heterogeneity, inter-organoid size differences, cellular stress, and poor reproducibility. Here, we describe a method that reproducibly generates thousands of organoids across multiple hiPSC lines.

Abnormal electromyographical trigeminal activation through stimulation of the offending artery (Z-L response): An intraoperative tool during microvascular decompression for trigeminal neuralgia.

Background: There are currently no intraoperative neurophysiological tools to assess the effectiveness of trigeminal nerve decompression during microvascular decompression surgery for drug-resistant trigeminal neuralgia. In microvascular decompression surgery for hemifacial spasm, an abnormal electromyographic activation of facial muscles after stimulation of the offending vessel was identified and named 'Z-L response'.

Methods: We adapted a neurophysiological protocol to elicit a Z-L response during microvascular decompression surgery for trigeminal neuralgia and applied it to a prospective series of 18 surgical patients.