Engineering functional ventral midbrain dopaminergic neurons in human organoids through WNT modulation and bioreactor culture
Hariam Raji, Federico Bertoli, Maria Jose Perez, Alicia Lam, Laura Volpicelli-Daley, Michela Deleidi · 2026
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Description
Hariam Raji and co-authors improve, in a 2026 study, human midbrain organoids, lab-grown tissue balls that model the dopamine neurons lost in Parkinson's disease. A three-stage adjustment of a growth signal called WNT, combined with swirling bioreactor culture, aimed to produce more of the specific vulnerable neuron type found in the substantia nigra.
The method raised yields of those neurons, strengthened their connections and electrical activity, and increased dopamine release. Single-cell profiling confirmed the right identity with less cell stress. Exposed to toxic protein clumps linked to Parkinson's, the organoids formed aggregates and lost dopamine neurons, mimicking disease. Drug researchers gain a scalable human model of the exact cells that die.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Hariam Raji, Federico Bertoli, Maria Jose Perez, Alicia Lam, Laura Volpicelli-Daley, Michela Deleidi |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 72519 |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |