image source - Thawed brain organoids shown via an imaging technique called immunofluorescence staining - Weiwei Xue et al.

Using a new approach, scientists have successfully frozen and thawed brain organoids and cubes of brain tissue from someone with epilepsy, which could enable better research into neurological conditions.

A new technique has allowed scientists to freeze human brain tissue so that it regains normal function after thawing, potentially opening the door to improved ways of studying neurological conditions.

Brain tissue doesn’t usually survive freezing and thawing, a problem that has significantly hindered medical research. In an effort to overcome this, Zhicheng Shao at Fudan University in Shanghai, China, and his colleagues used human embryonic stem cells to grow self-organising brain samples, known as organoids, for three weeks — long enough for the development of neurons and neural stem cells that can become different kinds of functional brain cells.

The researchers then placed these organoids — which measured 4 millimetres across on average — in different chemical compounds, such as sugars and antifreeze, that they suspected might help keep the brain cells alive while frozen and able to grow after being thawed.

Read the full article - https://www.newscientist.com/article/2431153-frozen-human-brain-tissue-can-now-be-revived-without-damage/