Living brain cell networks 3D printed with bioinks

Using a tissue engineering approach, and bioprinting with two bioinks containing living cells and non-cell materials respectively, the researchers at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia were able to mimic the arrangement of grey matter and white matter seen in the brain.

According to research lead Professor John Forsythe of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, two-dimensional nerve cell cultures have previously been used to study the formation of nerve networks and disease mechanisms, but those relatively flat structures do not reflect the way neurons grow and interact with their surroundings.

“The networks grown in this research closely replicated the 3D nature of circuits in a living brain, where nerve cells extend processes called neurites to form connections between different layers of the cortex,” Professor Forsythe said in a statement.

“We found that the projections growing from neurons in the printed ‘grey matter’ or cellular layer readily grew through the ‘white matter’ layer and used it as a ‘highway’ to communicate with neurons in other layers.