The 3D printed brain model mimics neuronal damage

Summary: Researchers have developed an innovative 3D brain model that closely reflects the architecture and function of the human brain. Built with biomimetic 3D impression, the Bioengineering Neuronal Network (Benn) presents regions other than gray and white matter and responds to electrical stimulation such as real brain tissue.

When exposed to low alcohol levels, Benn exhibited the accumulation of protein related to Alzheimer’s and structural damage, revealing how moderate consumption can damage the health of the brain. This platform offers unprecedented information in real time about the disease processes and paves the way for more precise preclinical tests.

Key facts:

3D brain model: Benn replicates the structure of the human brain with functionally different gray and white matter regions. Impact on alcohol: daily exposure to moderate alcohol levels increased Alzheimer’s proteins and neuronal damage in the model. Clinical potential: Benn allows real -time visualization of neurotoxic effects, helping early diagnosis and drug tests.

Source: Postech

A research team led by Professor Dong-Woo Cho (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Postech) and Professor Jinah Jang (Mechanical Engineering Departments, Convergence Engineering, Life Sciences and Interdisciplinary Graduate Program), in collaboration with Dr. Mihyeon Bae and Dr. Joang Ju Kim, has successfully developed a triple (3D) brain model of brain brain and mode.

The study was published in the International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, a leading magazine in the field of manufacturing and the science of materials.

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson are notoriously difficult to reverse once they occur, which makes early diagnosis and predictive modeling important.

However, the brain is the most complex organ of the human body, with intricately interconnected cells and signaling mechanisms that remain largely unexplored.

Recent studies have suggested that even daily alcohol consumption can be related to neuronal damage, even more emphasizing the urgent need for in vitro brain models that can precisely replicate human brain responses in laboratory environments.

Existing two -dimensional cell cultures and the organoids derived from stem cells have shown significant limitations in the reproduction of architecture and the complex function of the brain.

To overcome these limitations, the Postech research team developed the Bioingineered Neural Network (Benn), a new 3D artificial brain model built by layer, similar to the construction of a house with a 3D printer.

A central innovation of this model is found in biomimetic compartmentalization in two different regions: gray matter, which contains neuronal cell bodies and white matter, which consists of aligned axons that act as highways that facilitate the transmission of the signal.

The researchers applied electrical stimulation to guide the axonal growth of neurons in a specific direction, promoting the formation of neural roads aligned and interconnected.

This led to the establishment of a functional neuronal network that looks a lot like the native signal transmission architecture of the brain. Real -time monitoring of calcium ion flow confirmed that the Benn model exhibited electrophysiological responses analogous to those observed in real brain tissue.

In addition, the team used the Benn platform to investigate the effects of alcohol exposure on brain function. The model was treated daily with ethanol at a concentration of 0.03%, representative of moderate social consumption, for three weeks.

In the region of gray matter, they observed high levels of protein related to Alzheimer’s, including amyloid beta and tau. In white matter, they identified significant morphological changes in neuronal fibers, including swelling and distortion.

The propagation of neuronal signals also exhibited a marked attenuation. This study is the first to directly visualize and quantify the specific neurotoxic responses of the region to alcohol in real time using a bioingenated brain model.

Professor Dong-Woo Cho declared: “This model allows a high resolution analysis of neural connectivity and electrophysiological responses that were previously difficult to observe. It has a significant potential for the early detection of the disease and the precise prediction of the therapeutic results in the preclinical stage.”

Professor Jinah Jang added: “This research marks an important step forward in our ability to investigate the first pathological events of brain diseases in a laboratory environment.”

Financing: This investigation was supported by the Korean Fund for Regenerative Medicine funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare (22A0106L1, Republic of Korea) and the National Research subsidy of Korea (NRF) funded by the Government of Korea (MSIT) (No. 2022MC1A3081359).

About this Neurotech and Neuroscience Research News

Author: Jinyoung Huh
Source: Postech
Contact: Jinyoung Huh – Postech
Image: The image is accredited to Neuroscience News

Original research: open access.
“Unidirectional 3D Unidirectional Network and its application of alcoholic neurodegeneration” by Dong-Woo Cho et al. International Extreme Manufacturing Magazine

Abstract

3D bio -impressive unidirectional neural network and its alcoholic neurodegeneration application

The brain exhibits a complex physiology characterized by unique characteristics, such as a specific extracellular matrix of the brain, a compartmentalized structure (white and gray matter) and an axonal network aligned.

These physiological characteristics support brain function and facilitate signal transduction similar to that of an electrical circuit.

Therefore, investigating these in vitro characteristics is crucial to understand the interactions between neuronal signal transduction processes and the pathology of neurological diseases.

Compared to neurons on printed substrates, neuronal models based on three -dimensional bioimpressions (3D) provide significant advantages in the replication of axonal kinetics without physical limitations.

This study proposes the development of a 3D 3D Engineering Engineering Neuronal Network (Benn) to replicate the physiological characteristics of the brain, which suggests its application as a tool to study neurodegenerative diseases.

We use 3D bioimpression to reconstruct the compartmentalized brain structure and control the directionality of axonal growth by applying electrical stimuli to the printed neuronal structure to overcome spatial limitations.

The reconstructed axonal network demonstrated reliability as a neural analogue, including visualization of mature neuronal characteristics and spontaneous calcium reactions.

In addition, these models of brain -type neuronal networks have shown usefulness to study neurodegeneration by allowing the visualization of degenerative pathophysiology in neurons exposed to alcohol.

Benn facilitates the visualization of specific pathological markers of the region in populations of Soma or Axon, including amyloid-base formation and axonal deformation.

In general, Benn closely mimics the physiology of the brain, offers information on the dynamics of axonal networks and can be applied to the study of neurological diseases.