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Updated: Jan 3, 2026
Generation of iPSC-derived Human Brain Organoids to Model Early Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Published on: April 14, 2017
Anchoring a dynamic in vitro model of human neuronal differentiation to key processes of early brain development in
Susanna H Wegner1, Julie Juyoung Park1, Tomomi Workman1
1Institute for Risk Analysis and Risk Communication, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.
Abstract:
We characterize temporal pathway dynamics of differentiation in an in vitro neurotoxicity model with the aim of informing design and interpretation of toxicological assays. Human neural progenitor cells (hNPCs) were cultured in differentiation conditions up to 21 days. Genes significantly changed through time were identified and grouped according to temporal dynamics. Quantitative pathway analysis identified gene ontology (GO) terms enriched among significantly changed genes and provided a temporal roadmap of pathway trends in vitro. Gene expression in hNPCs was compared with publicly available gene expression data from developing human brain tissue in vivo. Quantitative pathway analysis of significantly changed genes and targeted analysis of specific pathways of interest identified concordance between in vivo and in vitro expression associated with proliferation, migration, differentiation, synapse formation, and neurotransmission. Our analysis anchors gene expression patterns in vitro to sensitive windows of in vivo development, helping to define appropriate applications of the model.
