Organoids hint at origins of enlarged brains in autistic people
The size of the cerebral cortex seems to depend on when neural progenitor cells multiply or differentiate into glial cells and neurons.
The size of the cerebral cortex seems to depend on when neural progenitor cells multiply or differentiate into glial cells and neurons.
The loss of CHD8, a top autism gene, speeds up the production of certain neurons and leads to overgrowth in spheres of cultured brain cells.
Mutations in all three accelerate the maturation of inhibitory neurons, which could upset the brain’s balance of excitation and inhibition early in development.
Cortical organoids that contain non-neuronal brain cells called microglia may reflect human neurodevelopment more faithfully than those that don’t.
Inhibiting a protein that helps cells move or change shape prevents atypical neuronal migration in 3D clusters of brain cells carrying autism-linked genetic variants.
When Holly Stessman isn’t probing autism genes, she is tending to her flock of chickens or seeking out the next great sci-fi movie.
Investigational drugs that inhibit an overactive enzyme could partially normalize how brain cells mature in boys with fragile X syndrome.
An imaging approach that captures spheres of brain cells in three dimensions could illuminate processes in early brain development.
3D cultures of human brain cells kept alive for more than a year undergo transitions in gene activity that resemble those seen in newborns, and may be used to study autism genes in postnatal stages of brain development.
Misaligned gene expression maps suggest that some autism-linked genes play distinct roles in mouse and human brains.