Buy mini-brains – 4 pieces for a dollar!

DailyTechInfo based on Gizmag materials: Cost-effective "mini brains" create accessible neural model

A group of researchers from Brown University has developed an extremely simple and effective technology for growing artificial "mini-brains" – three-dimensional formations of nerve tissues, whose neurons can form synapses and exchange information with each other using electrochemical signals. The cost of growing one "mini-brain" is only a quarter of a dollar, and in the near future they will be able to become a more convenient and affordable object for conducting a lot of different research and experiments in the field of neurobiology, medicine, etc.

Naturally, the "mini-brain" is not able to become a carrier of even primitive intelligence, but its structure is as close as possible to the structure of the brain of humans and most animals. During the growing process, nerve cells of a certain type or a mixture of cells of various types can be incorporated into an artificial "mini-brain", which, nevertheless, can form synapses and exchange electrical signals. 

Each "mini-brain" is a third of a millimeter in size. They are grown from samples of nerve tissues taken from experimental animals, and their growth process proceeds naturally, without requiring stimulation from sophisticated electronics, "forests" of polymer or organic materials. The density of nerve tissue in grown samples does not differ from the density of tissue in a living brain, and studies conducted using such "mini-brains" can give scientists much more information than ordinary flat samples of artificially grown nerve tissue.

The grown nerve tissues form complete neural networks within two to three weeks. And the process of cultivating nerve tissues in a special environment favorable for this allows you to grow thousands of "mini-brains" from a tiny sample of tissue taken from an experimental animal. The technology of growing "mini-brains" was originally developed by Diana Hoffman-Kim for internal use, to supply biological material for research in her own laboratory. But later this technology was refined by specialists of MicroTissues, Inc., which is now engaged in the development of technology on commercial rails.

"All the materials we use are very accessible, and the cultivation technologies are simple," says Yu–Ting Dingle, "Other researchers are now focused on growing very complex artificial brains, while we have focused on simplicity and accessibility. Thanks to our work, laboratories of almost any level can grow nerve tissues and conduct research without using experimental animals in this case."

Article by Dingle Yu-Ting L. et al. Three-Dimensional Neural Spheroid Culture: An In Vitro Model for Cortical Studies published in the journal Tissue Engineering: Part C – VM.

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07.10.2015