新一期Nature刊文說,，日本研究人員利用實(shí)驗(yàn)鼠的胚胎干細(xì)胞人工培育出了視網(wǎng)膜的雛形結(jié)構(gòu),，這是迄今人工培育出的最為復(fù)雜的生理組織。
日本理化研究所發(fā)育生物學(xué)中心等機(jī)構(gòu)的研究人員報(bào)告說,，在一種特殊的培養(yǎng)介質(zhì)中,，來自實(shí)驗(yàn)鼠的胚胎干細(xì)胞逐漸自動(dòng)形成了名為視杯的結(jié)構(gòu)。視杯是胚胎發(fā)育初期的視網(wǎng)膜結(jié)構(gòu),，其形狀與酒杯相似,，它會(huì)逐漸發(fā)育出感光細(xì)胞、神經(jīng)細(xì)胞等進(jìn)而形成視網(wǎng)膜,。
研究人員說,，人工培育出的視杯從結(jié)構(gòu)上看與天然形成的視杯差不多，研究人員正在對(duì)人工培育出的視杯進(jìn)行功能測(cè)試,，即測(cè)試它是否真能感受光線并將相關(guān)神經(jīng)信號(hào)傳遞給實(shí)驗(yàn)鼠的大腦,。
眼睛是人和許多動(dòng)物身上最精密的器官，本次研究成果也是迄今人工培育出的最為復(fù)雜的生理組織,。如果進(jìn)一步研究能夠確認(rèn)人工培育出的視杯的功能,，將非常有助于眼科疾病的研究和治療，如為修復(fù)受損視網(wǎng)膜提供解決方案,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原文出處：
Nature doi:10.1038/nature09941
Self-organizing optic-cup morphogenesis in three-dimensional culture
Mototsugu Eiraku,1, 2 Nozomu Takata,1 Hiroki Ishibashi,3 Masako Kawada,1 Eriko Sakakura,1, 2 Satoru Okuda,3 Kiyotoshi Sekiguchi,4 Taiji Adachi3, 5 & Yoshiki Sasai1, 2
Balanced organogenesis requires the orchestration of multiple cellular interactions to create the collective cell behaviours that progressively shape developing tissues. It is currently unclear how individual, localized parts are able to coordinate with each other to develop a whole organ shape. Here we report the dynamic, autonomous formation of the optic cup (retinal primordium) structure from a three-dimensional culture of mouse embryonic stem cell aggregates. Embryonic-stem-cell-derived retinal epithelium spontaneously formed hemispherical epithelial vesicles that became patterned along their proximal–distal axis. Whereas the proximal portion differentiated into mechanically rigid pigment epithelium, the flexible distal portion progressively folded inward to form a shape reminiscent of the embryonic optic cup, exhibited interkinetic nuclear migration and generated stratified neural retinal tissue, as seen in vivo. We demonstrate that optic-cup morphogenesis in this simple cell culture depends on an intrinsic self-organizing program involving stepwise and domain-specific regulation of local epithelial properties.
