Inside STAT: Brains-in-a-dish force a radical rethinking of Huntington's

BRAIN ORGANOIDS CREATED FROM HEALTHY STEM CELLS (TOP) HAVE (LEFT TO RIGHT) LARGE NEURON-MAKING STRUCTURES (PINK), AND LARGE NUMBERS OF WELL-ORGANIZED SPECIALIZED NEURONS (RED) IN THE FOREBRAIN AND CORTEX, IN CONTRAST TO ORGANOIDS FROM STEM CELLS WITH HUNTINGTON'S MUTATIONS (BOTTOM). (MAHMOUD POULADI/AGENCY FOR SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH , SINGAPORE)

Huntington’s disease has long been considered a neurodegenerative disease, characterized by slow physical and mental deterioration as neurons die. But new research suggests the disease may also affect neurodevelopment. Researchers using minuscule, 3D versions of brains in a dish describe how fledgling "progenitor cells" created from people with Huntington’s disease impatiently rush through the process of becoming full-fledged, mature neurons. This is in sharp contrast to typical progenitor cells that spend a much longer time simply replicating in their place of origin before they develop into specialized brain cells. The findings could one day offer scientists a way to intervene sooner rather than later. STAT’s Sharon Begley has more.