Cited by 17Pluripotent Stem Cells ResearchNeurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanismsDevelopmental Biology and Gene Regulation

Human organoids to model the developing human neocortex in health and disease

Open access
Khakipoor, Shokoufeh, Crouch, Elizabeth E., Mayer, Simone·2020·Brain Research

Abstract

Rodent models have catalyzed major discoveries in the neocortex, a brain region unique to mammals. However, since the neocortex has expanded considerably in primates, employing rodent models has limitations. Human fetal brain tissue is a scarce resource with limitations for experimental manipulations. In order to create an experimentally tractable representation of human brain development, a number of labs have recently created in vitro models of the developing human brain. These models, generated using human embryonic stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells, are called "organoids". Organoids have successfully and rapidly uncovered new mechanisms of human brain development in health and disease. In the future, we envision that this strategy will enable faster and more efficient translation of basic neuroscience findings to therapeutic applications. In this review, we discuss the generation of the first human cerebral organoids, progress since their debut, and challenges to be overcome in the future.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.brainres.2020.146803

Cites

24 of 24 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Cerebral organoids derived from AD patient-specific iPSCs can recapture patient-specific phenotypes and hence serve as excellent disease models for AD research and drug development.

    “Cerebral organoids derived from AD patient-specific iPSCs can recapture patient-specific phenotypes and hence serve as excellent disease models for AD research and drug development [51–53].”

    From CI-994 is a dual modulator of class I HDACs and Wnt/β-catenin signaling for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (2026) · cites this paper as [52]

    The Future perspectives section reports that forebrain organoids modeling Alzheimer’s disease mimic amyloid and tau pathology and respond to drug treatment. It does not specify that those organoids came from AD patient-specific iPSCs or recaptured patient-specific phenotypes; it describes organoid-based personalized treatment testing as a future possibility, not a current capability. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.87)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 84

  1. Abud EM, Ramirez RN, Martinez ES, Healy LM, Nguyen CHH, 2017 iPSC-Derived Human Microglia-like Cells to Study Neurological Diseases. Neuron 94: 278– 93 e9 28426964 PMC5482419
  2. Amin ND, Pasca SP. 2018 Building Models of Brain Disorders with Three-Dimensional Organoids. Neuron 100: 389– 405 30359604
  3. Amiri A, Coppola G, Scuderi S, Wu F, Roychowdhury T, 2018 Transcriptome and epigenome landscape of human cortical development modeled in organoids. Science 362 PMC6426303 30545853
  4. Arlotta P, Pasca SP. 2019 Cell diversity in the human cerebral cortex: from the embryo to brain organoids. Curr Opin Neurobiol 56: 194– 98 31051421
  5. Arnold TD, Niaudet C, Pang MF, Siegenthaler J, Gaengel K, 2014 Excessive vascular sprouting underlies cerebral hemorrhage in mice lacking alphaVbeta8-TGFbeta signaling in the brain. Development 141: 4489– 99 25406396 PMC4302931
  6. Attardo A, Calegari F, Haubensak W, Wilsch-Brauninger M, Huttner WB. 2008 Live imaging at the onset of cortical neurogenesis reveals differential appearance of the neuronal phenotype in apical versus basal progenitor progeny. PLoS One 3: e2388 18545663 PMC2398773
  7. Beattie R, Hippenmeyer S. 2017 Mechanisms of radial glia progenitor cell lineage progression. FEBS Letters 591: 3993– 4008 29121403 PMC5765500
  8. Bian S, Repic M, Guo Z, Kavirayani A, Burkard T, 2018 Genetically engineered cerebral organoids model brain tumor formation. Nat Methods 15: 631– 39 30038414 PMC6071863
  9. Blair JD, Hockemeyer D, Bateup HS. 2018 Genetically engineered human cortical spheroid models of tuberous sclerosis. Nat Med 24: 1568– 78 30127391 PMC6261470
  10. Cakir B, Xiang Y, Tanaka Y, Kural MH, Parent M, 2019 Engineering of human brain organoids with a functional vascular-like system. Nat Methods 16: 1169– 75 31591580 PMC6918722
  11. Camp JG, Badsha F, Florio M, Kanton S, Gerber T, 2015 Human cerebral organoids recapitulate gene expression programs of fetal neocortex development. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 112: 15672– 7 26644564 PMC4697386
  12. Crouch EE, Liu C, Silva-Vargas V, Doetsch F. 2015 Regional and stage-specific effects of prospectively purified vascular cells on the adult V-SVZ neural stem cell lineage. J Neurosci 35: 4528– 39 25788671 PMC4363382
  13. Daviaud N, Chevalier C, Friedel RH, Zou H. 2019 Distinct Vulnerability and Resilience of Human Neuroprogenitor Subtypes in Cerebral Organoid Model of Prenatal Hypoxic Injury. Front Cell Neurosci 13: 336 31417360 PMC6682705
  14. Daviaud N, Friedel RH, Zou H. 2018 Vascularization and Engraftment of Transplanted Human Cerebral Organoids in Mouse Cortex. eNeuro 5 PMC6243198 30460331
  15. Encinas JL, Garcia-Cabezas MA, Barkovich J, Fontecha CG, Peiro JL, 2011 Maldevelopment of the cerebral cortex in the surgically induced model of myelomeningocele: implications for fetal neurosurgery. J Pediatr Surg 46: 713– 22 21496543
  16. Espuny-Camacho I, Michelsen KA, Gall D, Linaro D, Hasche A, 2013 Pyramidal neurons derived from human pluripotent stem cells integrate efficiently into mouse brain circuits in vivo. Neuron 77: 440– 56 23395372
  17. Farahany NA, Greely HT, Hyman S, Koch C, Grady C, 2018 The ethics of experimenting with human brain tissue. Nature 556: 429– 32 29691509 PMC6010307
  18. Fietz SA, Kelava I, Vogt J, Wilsch-Brauninger M, Stenzel D, 2010 OSVZ progenitors of human and ferret neocortex are epithelial-like and expand by integrin signaling. Nat Neurosci 13: 690– 9 20436478
  19. Gertz CC, Kriegstein AR. 2015 Neuronal Migration Dynamics in the Developing Ferret Cortex. J Neurosci 35: 14307– 15 26490868 PMC4683689
  20. Giandomenico SL, Mierau SB, Gibbons GM, Wenger LMD, Masullo L, 2019 Cerebral organoids at the air-liquid interface generate diverse nerve tracts with functional output. Nat Neurosci 22: 669– 79 30886407 PMC6436729
  21. Herculano-Houzel S, Mota B, Lent R. 2006 Cellular scaling rules for rodent brains. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103: 12138– 43 16880386 PMC1567708
  22. Herrmann K 2019 Beyond the 3Rs: Expanding the use of human-relevant replacement methods in biomedical research. Altex: 343– 52 31329258
  23. Hofman MA. 2014 Evolution of the human brain: when bigger is better. Front Neuroanat 8: 15 24723857 PMC3973910
  24. Jo J, Xiao Y, Sun AX, Cukuroglu E, Tran HD, 2016 Midbrain-like Organoids from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Contain Functional Dopaminergic and Neuromelanin-Producing Neurons. Cell Stem Cell 19: 248– 57 27476966 PMC5510242
  25. Kalebic N, Gilardi C, Albert M, Namba T, Long KR, 2018 Human-specific ARHGAP11B induces hallmarks of neocortical expansion in developing ferret neocortex. Elife 7 PMC6303107 30484771
  26. Kanton S, Boyle MJ, He Z, Santel M, Weigert A, 2019 Organoid single-cell genomic atlas uncovers human-specific features of brain development. Nature 574: 418– 22 31619793
  27. Kriegstein A, Alvarez-Buylla A. 2009 The glial nature of embryonic and adult neural stem cells. Annu Rev Neurosci 32: 149– 84 19555289 PMC3086722
  28. Lancaster MA, Knoblich JA. 2014 Generation of cerebral organoids from human pluripotent stem cells. Nat Protoc 9: 2329– 40 25188634 PMC4160653
  29. Lancaster MA, Renner M, Martin CA, Wenzel D, Bicknell LS, 2013 Cerebral organoids model human brain development and microcephaly. Nature 501: 373– 9 23995685 PMC3817409
  30. Lange C, Turrero Garcia M, Decimo I, Bifari F, Eelen G, 2016 Relief of hypoxia by angiogenesis promotes neural stem cell differentiation by targeting glycolysis. EMBO J 35: 924– 41 26856890 PMC5207321
  31. Lee CT, Chen J, Kindberg AA, Bendriem RM, Spivak CE, 2017 CYP3A5 Mediates Effects of Cocaine on Human Neocorticogenesis: Studies using an In Vitro 3D Self-Organized hPSC Model with a Single Cortex-Like Unit. Neuropsychopharmacology 42: 774– 84 27534267 PMC5240177
  32. Li R, Sun L, Fang A, Li P, Wu Q, Wang X. 2017 Recapitulating cortical development with organoid culture in vitro and modeling abnormal spindle-like (ASPM related primary) microcephaly disease. Protein Cell 8: 823– 33 29058117 PMC5676597
  33. Linkous A, Balamatsias D, Snuderl M, Edwards L, Miyaguchi K, 2019 Modeling Patient-Derived Glioblastoma with Cerebral Organoids. Cell Rep 26: 3203– 11 e5 30893594 PMC6625753
  34. Luhmann HJ, Sinning A, Yang JW, Reyes-Puerta V, Stuttgen MC, 2016 Spontaneous Neuronal Activity in Developing Neocortical Networks: From Single Cells to Large-Scale Interactions. Front Neural Circuits 10: 40 27252626 PMC4877528
  35. Lui JH, Hansen DV, Kriegstein AR. 2011 Development and evolution of the human neocortex. Cell 146: 18– 36 21729779 PMC3610574
  36. Luo C, Lancaster MA, Castanon R, Nery JR, Knoblich JA, Ecker JR. 2016 Cerebral Organoids Recapitulate Epigenomic Signatures of the Human Fetal Brain. Cell Rep 17: 3369– 84 28009303 PMC5495578
  37. Madhavan M, Nevin ZS, Shick HE, Garrison E, Clarkson-Paredes C, 2018 Induction of myelinating oligodendrocytes in human cortical spheroids. Nat Methods 15: 700– 06 30046099 PMC6508550
  38. Malatesta P, Appolloni I, Calzolari F. 2008 Radial glia and neural stem cells. Cell Tissue Res 331: 165– 78 17846796
  39. Mansour AA, Goncalves JT, Bloyd CW, Li H, Fernandes S, 2018 An in vivo model of functional and vascularized human brain organoids. Nat Biotechnol 36: 432– 41 29658944 PMC6331203
  40. Mariani J, Coppola G, Zhang P, Abyzov A, Provini L, 2015 FOXG1-Dependent Dysregulation of GABA/Glutamate Neuron Differentiation in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Cell 162: 375– 90 26186191 PMC4519016
  41. Mariani J, Simonini MV, Palejev D, Tomasini L, Coppola G, 2012 Modeling human cortical development in vitro using induced pluripotent stem cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 109: 12770– 5 22761314 PMC3411972
  42. Mayer S, Chen J, Velmeshev D, Mayer A, Eze UC, 2019 Multimodal Single-Cell Analysis Reveals Physiological Maturation in the Developing Human Neocortex. Neuron 102: 143– 58 e7 30770253 PMC7648658
  43. Mohyeldin A, Garzon-Muvdi T, Quinones-Hinojosa A. 2010 Oxygen in stem cell biology: a critical component of the stem cell niche. Cell Stem Cell 7: 150– 61 20682444
  44. Molnar Z, Clowry GJ, Sestan N, Alzu’bi A, Bakken T, 2019 New insights into the development of the human cerebral cortex. J Anat PMC6704245 31373394
  45. Molofsky AV, Deneen B. 2015 Astrocyte development: A Guide for the Perplexed. Glia 63: 1320– 9 25963996
  46. Moore AR, Zhou WL, Sirois CL, Belinsky GS, Zecevic N, Antic SD. 2014 Connexin hemichannels contribute to spontaneous electrical activity in the human fetal cortex. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 111: E3919– 28 25197082 PMC4169969
  47. Mora-Bermudez F, Badsha F, Kanton S, Camp JG, Vernot B, 2016 Differences and similarities between human and chimpanzee neural progenitors during cerebral cortex development. Elife 5 PMC5110243 27669147
  48. Munoz-Sanjuan I, Brivanlou AH. 2002 Neural induction, the default model and embryonic stem cells. Nat Rev Neurosci 3: 271– 80 11967557
  49. Nowakowski TJ, Bhaduri A, Pollen AA, Alvarado B, Mostajo-Radji MA, 2017 Spatiotemporal gene expression trajectories reveal developmental hierarchies of the human cortex. Science 358: 1318– 23 29217575 PMC5991609
  50. Nowakowski TJ, Pollen AA, Sandoval-Espinosa C, Kriegstein AR. 2016 Transformation of the Radial Glia Scaffold Demarcates Two Stages of Human Cerebral Cortex Development. Neuron 91: 1219– 27 27657449 PMC5087333
  51. Oberheim NA, Takano T, Han X, He W, Lin JHC, 2009 Uniquely Hominid Features of Adult Human Astrocytes. Journal of Neuroscience 29: 3276– 87 19279265 PMC2819812
  52. Onorati M, Li Z, Liu F, Sousa AMM, Nakagawa N, 2016 Zika Virus Disrupts Phospho-TBK1 Localization and Mitosis in Human Neuroepithelial Stem Cells and Radial Glia. Cell Rep 16: 2576– 92 27568284 PMC5135012
  53. Ormel PR, Vieira de Sa R, van Bodegraven EJ, Karst H, Harschnitz O, 2018 Microglia innately develop within cerebral organoids. Nat Commun 9: 4167 30301888 PMC6177485
  54. Paredes I, Himmels P, Ruiz de Almodovar C. 2018 Neurovascular Communication during CNS Development. Dev Cell 45: 10– 32 29634931
  55. Paridaen JT, Huttner WB. 2014 Neurogenesis during development of the vertebrate central nervous system. EMBO Rep 15: 351– 64 24639559 PMC3989667
  56. Pasca AM, Park JY, Shin HW, Qi Q, Revah O, 2019 Human 3D cellular model of hypoxic brain injury of prematurity. Nat Med 25: 784– 91 31061540 PMC7020938
  57. Pasca SP. 2018 The rise of three-dimensional human brain cultures. Nature 553: 437– 45 29364288
  58. Pham MT, Pollock KM, Rose MD, Cary WA, Stewart HR, 2018 Generation of human vascularized brain organoids. Neuroreport 29: 588– 93 29570159 PMC6476536
  59. Pletikos M, Sousa AM, Sedmak G, Meyer KA, Zhu Y, 2014 Temporal specification and bilaterality of human neocortical topographic gene expression. Neuron 81: 321– 32 24373884 PMC3931000
  60. Pollen AA, Bhaduri A, Andrews MG, Nowakowski TJ, Meyerson OS, 2019 Establishing Cerebral Organoids as Models of Human-Specific Brain Evolution. Cell 176: 743– 56 e17 30735633 PMC6544371
  61. Pollen AA, Nowakowski TJ, Chen J, Retallack H, Sandoval-Espinosa C, 2015 Molecular identity of human outer radial glia during cortical development. Cell 163: 55– 67 26406371 PMC4583716
  62. Qian X, Jacob F, Song MM, Nguyen HN, Song H, Ming GL. 2018 Generation of human brain region-specific organoids using a miniaturized spinning bioreactor. Nat Protoc 13: 565– 80 29470464 PMC6241211
  63. Qian X, Nguyen HN, Song MM, Hadiono C, Ogden SC, 2016 Brain-Region-Specific Organoids Using Mini-bioreactors for Modeling ZIKV Exposure. Cell 165: 1238– 54 27118425 PMC4900885
  64. Reillo I, Borrell V. 2012 Germinal zones in the developing cerebral cortex of ferret: ontogeny, cell cycle kinetics, and diversity of progenitors. Cereb Cortex 22: 2039– 54 21988826
  65. Reillo I, de Juan Romero C, Cardenas A, Clasca F, Martinez-Martinez MA, Borrell V. 2017 A Complex Code of Extrinsic Influences on Cortical Progenitor Cells of Higher Mammals. Cereb Cortex 27: 4586– 606 28922855
  66. Reillo I, de Juan Romero C, Garcia-Cabezas MA, Borrell V. 2011 A role for intermediate radial glia in the tangential expansion of the mammalian cerebral cortex. Cereb Cortex 21: 1674– 94 21127018
  67. Retallack H, Di Lullo E, Arias C, Knopp KA, Laurie MT, 2016 Zika virus cell tropism in the developing human brain and inhibition by azithromycin. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 113: 14408– 13 27911847 PMC5167169
  68. Sadler TW. 2005 Embryology of neural tube development. Am J Med Genet C Semin Med Genet 135C: 2– 8 15806586
  69. Seo J, Kritskiy O, Watson LA, Barker SJ, Dey D, 2017 Inhibition of p25/Cdk5 Attenuates Tauopathy in Mouse and iPSC Models of Frontotemporal Dementia. J Neurosci 37: 9917– 24 28912154 PMC5637118
  70. Shi Y, Kirwan P, Livesey FJ. 2012 Directed differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells to cerebral cortex neurons and neural networks. Nat Protoc 7: 1836– 46 22976355
  71. Silbereis JC, Pochareddy S, Zhu Y, Li M, Sestan N. 2016 The Cellular and Molecular Landscapes of the Developing Human Central Nervous System. Neuron 89: 248– 68 26796689 PMC4959909
  72. Silva-Vargas V, Crouch EE, Doetsch F. 2013 Adult neural stem cells and their niche: a dynamic duo during homeostasis, regeneration, and aging. Curr Opin Neurobiol 23: 935– 42 24090877
  73. Sousa AMM, Zhu Y, Raghanti MA, Kitchen RR, Onorati M, 2017 Molecular and cellular reorganization of neural circuits in the human lineage. Science 358: 1027– 32 29170230 PMC5776074
  74. Subramanian L, Bershteyn M, Paredes MF, Kriegstein AR. 2017 Dynamic behaviour of human neuroepithelial cells in the developing forebrain. Nat Commun 8: 14167 28139695 PMC5290330
  75. Sweeney MD, Kisler K, Montagne A, Toga AW, Zlokovic BV. 2018 The role of brain vasculature in neurodegenerative disorders. Nat Neurosci 21: 1318– 31 30250261 PMC6198802
  76. Tan X, Liu WA, Zhang XJ, Shi W, Ren SQ, 2016 Vascular Influence on Ventral Telencephalic Progenitors and Neocortical Interneuron Production. Dev Cell 36: 624– 38 27003936 PMC4806403
  77. Wang Y, Wang L, Zhu Y, Qin J. 2018 Human brain organoid-on-a-chip to model prenatal nicotine exposure. Lab Chip 18: 851– 60 29437173
  78. Watanabe K, Kamiya D, Nishiyama A, Katayama T, Nozaki S, 2005 Directed differentiation of telencephalic precursors from embryonic stem cells. Nat Neurosci 8: 288– 96 15696161
  79. Wen S, Li H, Liu J. 2009 Dynamic signaling for neural stem cell fate determination. Cell Adhesion & Migration 3: 1: 107– 17 19262166 PMC2675157
  80. Xia X, Zhang SC. 2009 Differentiation of neuroepithelia from human embryonic stem cells. Methods Mol Biol 549: 51– 8 19378195 PMC2948207
  81. Xiang Y, Tanaka Y, Cakir B, Patterson B, Kim KY, 2019 hESC-Derived Thalamic Organoids Form Reciprocal Projections When Fused with Cortical Organoids. Cell Stem Cell 24: 487– 97 e7 30799279 PMC6853597
  82. Xiang Y, Tanaka Y, Patterson B, Kang YJ, Govindaiah G, 2017 Fusion of Regionally Specified hPSC-Derived Organoids Models Human Brain Development and Interneuron Migration. Cell Stem Cell 21: 383– 98 e7 28757360 PMC5720381
  83. Ye F, Kang E, Yu C, Qian X, Jacob F, 2017 DISC1 Regulates Neurogenesis via Modulating Kinetochore Attachment of Ndel1/Nde1 during Mitosis. Neuron 96: 1041– 54 e5 29103808 PMC5731645
  84. Zhu Y, Wang L, Yin F, Yu Y, Wang Y, 2017 Probing impaired neurogenesis in human brain organoids exposed to alcohol. Integr Biol (Camb) 9: 968– 78 29168871

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Khakipoor, S., Crouch, E. E., & Mayer, S.
Affiliations
  • Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research (DE)
  • University of California, San Francisco (US)
Corresponding author
Mayer, Simone
Venue
Brain Research
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2020-09
Volume
1742
Pages
146803
ISSN
0006-8993 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3013165669
Cited by
17
References
24
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1
FWCI
0.24
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Brain Research (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Funders
National Institutes of Health
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Pluripotent Stem Cells Research
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Developmental Neuroscience › Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation
Keywords
brain organoids, neocortex development, human brain development, human embryonic stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, in vitro brain models, neurodevelopmental disorders, translational neuroscience
MeSH terms
Brain, Humans, Models, Biological, Organoids, Cell Culture Techniques, Neocortex, Neurogenesis, Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review