Bioengineers Create Functional 3D Brain-like Tissue

Bioengineers at the Tissue Engineering Resource Center at Tufts University have created 3D brain-like tissue that functions like and has structural features similar to tissue in the rat brain. The 3D brain-like tissue — which can be kept alive in the lab for more than two months — also exhibits grey-white matter compartmentalization. The tissue could provide a superior model for studying normal brain function as well as injury and disease, assisting in the development of new treatments for brain dysfunction. The key to developing the brain-like tissue was the creation of a novel composite structure that consisted of two biomaterials with different physical properties; a spongy scaffold made out of silk protein; and a softer, collagen-based gel. The scaffold served as a structure onto which neurons could anchor themselves, and the gel encouraged axons to grow through it. To achieve grey-white matter compartmentalization, the researchers cut the spongy scaffold into a donut shape and populated it with rat neurons. Over a period of several weeks, the researchers conducted experiments to determine the health and function of the neurons growing in the 3D environment, comparing them with neurons grown in a collagen, gel-only environment — or in a 2D dish. To read more about this study, click here.