The mechanics of human brain organoids

Abstract

Organoids are prototypes of human organs derived from cultured human stem cells. They provide a reliable and accurate experimental model to study the physical mechanisms underlying the early developmental stages of human organs morphogenesis and, in particular, the early morphogenesis of the cortex. Here, we propose a mathematical model to elucidate the role played by two mechanisms which have been experimentally proven to be crucial in shaping human brain organoids: the contraction of the inner core of the organoid and the microstructural remodeling of the outer cortex. Our results show that both mechanisms are crucial for the final shape of the organoid and can explain the origin of brain pathologies such as lissencephaly (smooth brain).

References in corpus (6)

• Bending instabilities of soft tissues
• Nonlinear Euler buckling
• The explicit secular equation for surface acoustic waves in monoclinic elastic crystals
• Wave impedance matrices for cylindrically anisotropic radially inhomogeneous elastic solids
• Surface tension controls the onset of gyrification in brain organoids
• Buckling without bending: a new paradigm in morphogenesis

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Surface tension controls the onset of gyrification in brain organoids
• Wrinkling instability in unsupported epithelial sheets
• Active elasticity drives the formation of periodic beading in damaged axons
• Retina organoids: Window into the biophysics of neuronal systems
• Electro-mechanical wrinkling of soft dielectric films bonded to hyperelastic substrates
• Euler buckling on curved surfaces
• Buckling by disordered growth
• Post-bifurcation behaviour of elasto-capillary necking and bulging in soft tubes
• Influence of the growth gradient on surface wrinkling and pattern transition in growing tubular tissues