You imagine a future when a piece of completely synthetic matter begins to behave like real brain tissue, it looks like a movie scene and this has been achieved in a laboratory at the University of California, where a team of
scientistscreated the first functional model of tissue similar to the biological brain and this occurred without using any material of animal origin, no biological coatings, no cells supported by natural proteins.
The BIPORES, as it was called, is a breakthrough that was only possible because the researchers resorted to a bold combination, using PG in gel form, silica particles and a technique inspired by the formation of biogels, creating thick fibers with interconnected cones in all directions.
A custom microfluidic system and a bioprinter shaped three-dimensional layers in which nutrients and waste circulate freely, the result is a kind of stable synthetic sponge capable of supporting neural stem cells while they grow, adhere and form active electrical connections.
The decisive moment occurs when the liquid mixture PG, ethanol and water runs through tiny tubes and encounters a flow of water separator, in fractions of a second the ingredients are reorganized, a flash of light freezes that molecular dance, creating the architecture that feeds the cells with oxygen and nutrients deeply, there inside, those cells begin to organize themselves into agglomerates that remember initial brain structures, communicating with each other as they recognize the logic of the new environment.
For researchers, the stability of this structure paves the way for something that has always eluded traditional models: long-term studies with mature brain cells that best reflect the real functioning of diseases, traumas and degenerative processes.
The ambition is to assemble a network of interconnected mini-organs capable of responding to treatments in an integrated way, revealing how a disorder in one system influences another, almost like observing a reduced and transparent human body functioning piece by piece.
