A patterned human neural tube model using microfluidic gradients

Xufeng Xue, Yung Su Kim, Alfredo Isaac Ponce-Arias, Richard O’Laughlin, Robin Zhexuan Yan, Norio Kobayashi, Rami Yair Tshuva, Yu Hwai Tsai, Shiyu Sun, Yi Zheng, Yue Liu, Frederick C.K. Wong, Azim Surani, Jason R. Spence, Hongjun Song, Guo Li Ming, Orly Reiner, Jianping Fu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

The human nervous system is a highly complex but organized organ. The foundation of its complexity and organization is laid down during regional patterning of the neural tube, the embryonic precursor to the human nervous system. Historically, studies of neural tube patterning have relied on animal models to uncover underlying principles. Recently, models of neurodevelopment based on human pluripotent stem cells, including neural organoids1–5 and bioengineered neural tube development models6–10, have emerged. However, such models fail to recapitulate neural patterning along both rostral–caudal and dorsal–ventral axes in a three-dimensional tubular geometry, a hallmark of neural tube development. Here we report a human pluripotent stem cell-based, microfluidic neural tube-like structure, the development of which recapitulates several crucial aspects of neural patterning in brain and spinal cord regions and along rostral–caudal and dorsal–ventral axes. This structure was utilized for studying neuronal lineage development, which revealed pre-patterning of axial identities of neural crest progenitors and functional roles of neuromesodermal progenitors and the caudal gene CDX2 in spinal cord and trunk neural crest development. We further developed dorsal–ventral patterned microfluidic forebrain-like structures with spatially segregated dorsal and ventral regions and layered apicobasal cellular organizations that mimic development of the human forebrain pallium and subpallium, respectively. Together, these microfluidics-based neurodevelopment models provide three-dimensional lumenal tissue architectures with in vivo-like spatiotemporal cell differentiation and organization, which will facilitate the study of human neurodevelopment and disease.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)391-399
Number of pages9
JournalNature
Volume628
Issue number8007
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 11 2024
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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