In the USA, a brain tissue that can develop like a real one has been printed on a 3D printer

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA) have printed functional brain tissue on a 3D printer. It is able to develop and form connections like a real one, writes Popular Science.

The researchers described the results of their work in the journal Cell Stem Cell. As part of the study, they proposed a new approach to 3D bioprinting.

During the experiment, the scientists used “bioink”. This is a gel of such density that does not allow the tissue to spread and allows neurons and their processes to grow freely inside the composition.

For the study, the researchers used neurons grown from pluripotent stem cells. During the printing process, the scientists used horizontal rather than vertical layers of “bioink”.

“The tissue still has enough structure to hold together but it is soft enough to allow the neurons to grow into each other and start talking to each other,” said Su-Chun Zhang, head of the study.

The specialists used the new method to print tissue of the cerebral cortex and striate body.