[Tissue-engineered models of the nervous system.]

[Steven Edwards]

[Tissue-engineered models of the nervous system.]

Beaulieu MM, Tremblay PL, Berthod F.

Laboratoire d'organogenèse expérimentale (LOEX), Centre de recherche FRSQ du CHA de Québec, Hôpital du Saint-Sacrement et Département de chirurgie, Faculté de médecine, Université Laval, Québec (Québec) Canada, LOEX, Hôpital du Saint-Sacrement, 1050, chemin Sainte-Foy, Québec (Québec) G1S 4L8 Canada.

The nervous system is extraordinarily complex and exposed to various trauma and degenerative diseases that remain difficult to treat. To facilitate its study, in vitro models were developed by culturing neurons and glial cells in monolayer cultures, or through organotypic cultures of brain or spinal cord slices. These in vitro models were, and are still very helpful for the advancement of neurosciences. However, they are for some studies, either overly simplified, or too complex. The application of tissue engineering to neurosciences offers a new and highly versatile approach to develop accurate models of the nervous system. These models can be engineered in three-dimensions while choosing for each individual component, cellular and molecular, that will compose it. The level of complexity of the model can be adjusted from the simplest to the more complete as needed. For example, through the use of a three-dimensional tissue-engineered model of the spinal cord, it was possible to reproduce the process of myelin sheath formation around motor neuron axons for the first time in vitro. This breakthrough shows the promising potential of tissue engineering in the development of powerful in vitro models of the nervous system. The combination of these models with the use of human adult neurons and glial cells obtained from the differentiation of neural precursor cells isolated from accessible tissues from patients (skin, fat, bone marrow), opens promising perspectives to better understand -neurodegenerative diseases. double dagger. (Source)

The article's in French, but it sounds very useful. (And incredibly cool.)