Non-invasive label-free imaging analysis pipeline for in situ characterization of 3D brain organoids

Abstract Brain organoids provide a unique opportunity to model organ development in a system similar to human organogenesis in vivo. Brain organoids thus hold great promise for drug screening and disease modeling. Conventional approaches to organoid characterization predominantly rely on molecular a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Caroline E. Serafini, Seleipiri Charles, Paloma Casteleiro Costa, Weibo Niu, Brian Cheng, Zhexing Wen, Hang Lu, Francisco E. Robles
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2024-09-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-72038-2
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Abstract Brain organoids provide a unique opportunity to model organ development in a system similar to human organogenesis in vivo. Brain organoids thus hold great promise for drug screening and disease modeling. Conventional approaches to organoid characterization predominantly rely on molecular analysis methods, which are expensive, time-consuming, labor-intensive, and involve the destruction of the valuable three-dimensional (3D) architecture of the organoids. This reliance on end-point assays makes it challenging to assess cellular and subcellular events occurring during organoid development in their 3D context. As a result, the long developmental processes are not monitored nor assessed. The ability to perform non-invasive assays is critical for longitudinally assessing features of organoid development during culture. In this paper, we demonstrate a label-free high-content imaging approach for observing changes in organoid morphology and structural changes occurring at the cellular and subcellular level. Enabled by microfluidic-based culture of 3D cell systems and a novel 3D quantitative phase imaging method, we demonstrate the ability to perform non-destructive high-resolution quantitative image analysis of the organoid. The highlighted results demonstrated in this paper provide a new approach to performing live, non-destructive monitoring of organoid systems during culture.
ISSN:2045-2322