While most differentiated cells can be made to live on their own, simply converting stem cells into neurons will not be sufficient for proper functioning. Brain cells need synaptic connections in order to exhibit their physiology, so researchers at the Cellular Neurobiology Research Branch of National Institutes of Health, USA have been working at making that happen in a laboratory environment. The team managed to connect two different types of human pluripotent stem cell-derived neurons that exhibited normal function.
The team used a so called “ibidi wound healing dish” to connect mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons to neocortical brain cells. This was done by first growing the two types of cells in separate compartments within the dish. Once sufficient sized colonies of each cell type were formed, the door between the two chambers was opened and the cells allowed to interact.…
