An innovative method for creating miniature brains has been created by Dr Tyler Wenzel from the University of Saskatchewan (USask) in which the stem cells of human blood have been used and is likely to transform the treatment and diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.
“Never in our wildest dreams did we think that our crazy idea would work. These could be used as a diagnostic tool, built from blood,” he said.
The idea of this one-in-a-kind mini-brain was developed by Wenzel, a postdoctoral fellow in the College of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry, while he was working under the supervision of Dr. Darrell Mousseau (PhD).
According to the research, it is possible to manipulate human stem cells and develop them into practically any other kind of cell in the human body.
Wenzel used the stem cells from human blood and created a tiny artificial organ, which was around three millimetres and appeared like a piece of chewed gum.
After using the stem cells from a blood sample to create “mini-brains”, they are transformed to function in the way brain cells do.
How are these human blood-based “mini-brains” unique?
It is not a novel concept to use small synthetic organoids for research, however, the “mini-brains” created in Wenzel’s lab were unique.
According to the recently published article by Wenzel in Frontiers of Cellular Neuroscience, these brains had four different types of brain cells in comparison to other brain organoids comprising of just only neurons.
As per the tests, the “mini-brains” created by Wenzel are more accurate in reflecting the developed adult human brain and can closely examine neurological conditions of patients suffering from diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.
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“If stem cells have the capacity to become any cell in the human body, the question then came ‘could we create something that resembles an entire organ?’” said Wenzel.
“While we were developing it, I had the crazy idea that if these truly are human brains, if a patient had a disease like Alzheimer’s and we grew their ‘mini-brain,’ in theory that tiny brain would have Alzheimer’s,” he added.
Wenzel has accepted that he is still finding it difficult to believe the astounding success of the early “mini-brains”.
“I’m still in disbelief, but it’s also extremely motivating that something like this happened,” Wenzel said. “It gives me something that I think will impact society and have actual relevance and create some change … it has a strong potential to shift the landscape of medicine,” said the scientists.
(With inputs from agencies)