Zhou Gang, Pang Siyuan, Li Yongning, Gao Jun
Department of Neurosurgery, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Department of Neurosurgery; Department of International Medical Service, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Neural Regen Res. 2024 May;19(5):1013-1019. doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.385280.
Spinal cord organoids are three-dimensional tissues derived from stem cells that recapitulate the primary morphological and functional characteristics of the spinal cord in vivo. As emerging bioengineering methods have led to the optimization of cell culture protocols, spinal cord organoids technology has made remarkable advancements in the past decade. Our literature search found that current spinal cord organoids do not only dynamically simulate neural tube formation but also exhibit diverse cytoarchitecture along the dorsal-ventral and rostral-caudal axes. Moreover, fused organoids that integrate motor neurons and other regionally specific organoids exhibit intricate neural circuits that allows for functional assessment. These qualities make spinal cord organoids valuable tools for disease modeling, drug screening, and tissue regeneration. By utilizing this emergent technology, researchers have made significant progress in investigating the pathogenesis and potential therapeutic targets of spinal cord diseases. However, at present, spinal cord organoid technology remains in its infancy and has not been widely applied in translational medicine. Establishment of the next generation of spinal cord organoids will depend on good manufacturing practice standards and needs to focus on diverse cell phenotypes and electrophysiological functionality evaluation.
脊髓类器官是由干细胞衍生而来的三维组织，可在体内重现脊髓的主要形态和功能特征。随着新兴生物工程方法推动细胞培养方案的优化，脊髓类器官技术在过去十年中取得了显著进展。我们的文献检索发现，当前的脊髓类器官不仅能动态模拟神经管形成，还沿背腹轴和头尾轴展现出多样的细胞结构。此外，整合运动神经元和其他区域特异性类器官的融合类器官呈现出复杂的神经回路，可用于功能评估。这些特性使脊髓类器官成为疾病建模、药物筛选和组织再生的宝贵工具。通过利用这项新兴技术，研究人员在研究脊髓疾病的发病机制和潜在治疗靶点方面取得了重大进展。然而，目前脊髓类器官技术仍处于起步阶段，尚未在转化医学中广泛应用。下一代脊髓类器官的建立将取决于良好生产规范标准，且需要关注多样的细胞表型和电生理功能评估。
