Generation of Vascularized Brain Organoids to Study Neurovascular Interactions

The recently developed brain organoids have been used to recapitulate the processes of brain development and related diseases. However, the lack of vasculatures, which regulate neurogenesis, brain disorders, and aging process, limits the utility of brain organoids. In this study, we induced vessel and brain organoids respectively, and then fused two types of organoids together to obtain vascularized brain organoids. The fused brain organoids were engrafted with robust vascular network-like structures, and exhibited increased number of neural progenitors, in line with the possibility that vessels regulate neural development. Fusion organoids also contained functional blood-brain-barrier (BBB)-like structures, as well as microglial cells, a specific population of immune cells in the brain. The incorporated microglia responded actively to immune stimuli to the fused brain organoids. Thus, the fusion organoids established in this study allow modeling interactions between the neuronal and non-neuronal components in vitro, in particular the vasculature and microglia niche.