Co-Culture of a Brain Organoid Derived from Human iPSCs and Vasculature on a Chip

In this study, we developed a new system to co-culture human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs)-derived brain organoids and vasculature made of HUVECs in a microfluidic device. Our device can make perfusable vascular networks in a microchannel. We firstly optimized the type of media to co-culture hiPSCs-derived brain organoids and HUVECs. Then, the effect of vasculature on the differentiation of brain organoids was evaluated by our new culture system. We found that on-chip vasculature promoted neural differentiation and maturation as compared to the conventional mono-culture. This brain organoids-on-a-chip system would be a powerful tool for various stem cell-based organoids engineering and its application in developmental biology and human disease studies.