GoKawiil
Tech News
Stanford researchers reported in Nature Neuroscience that the human brain forms from two separate progenitor cells, one giving rise to the forebrain and the other to the hindbrain, rather than developing from a single evolutionary lineage as previously assumed. Senior author Kyle Loh said the team can now grow hindbrain neurons in a lab dish to study their function separately from the forebrain.
A Stanford team led by Sergiu Pașca genetically engineered mice to lack most of their cortex and hippocampus, then implanted human brain organoid cells into the resulting gap. The human cells expanded to fill much of that space within weeks to months, and mice with the human tissue performed better on memory maze tests than mice without it.
Researchers led by Sergiu Pașca at Stanford transplanted lab-grown human brain tissue into newborn mice missing part of their brains, and the tissue expanded to fill much of that space while forming functional connections with the host nervous system. Published in Nature on September 16, the study represents the most extensive fusion of human neural tissue into a living animal achieved to date, though behavioral tests showed the mice did not gain enhanced cognitive abilities.
Researchers analyzed post-mortem human fetal brain tissue collected across periods 13 to 24 weeks post-conception, sourced from multiple US and UK tissue banks under ethical approval, to study how the prefrontal cortex becomes distinct from motor regions. They identified a self-regulating retinoic acid signaling loop active during the mid-fetal stage that appears to guide this regional specialization as the cortical plate consolidates and thalamocortical connections form.
Researchers report that as the human brain ages, its resident immune cells known as microglia are increasingly replaced by cells originating from the bloodstream. This shift in the brain's immune population appears to be a natural part of aging rather than a result of disease.