A path forward to replace animal testing in neurodevelopmental research

Not only are there ethical concerns when using animals for lab testing, but animal models can’t fully recapitulate the complexities of human biology. Rodents are a popular test subject, but rodent cells don’t undergo gyrus formation, which is the folding that occurs in the cerebral cortex.

3D bioprinted cells can, however, create comparable models, and Machado and Ferreira et al. successfully “printed” human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neural progenitor cells (hNPCs).

“In the past five years, I decided to reduce the use of animal models in my lab,” said author Marimelia Porcionatto. “I started searching for new technologies to increase the complexity of the in vitro models, and this led us to use 3D bioprinting.”

3D bioprinters evolved from regular 3D printers, creating structures that mimic tissues or organs. Using the hNPCs, the researchers bioprinted a model of a neurogenic niche, the microenvironment in the brain where neurons are generated.

The cells were bioprinted onto a hydrogel that served as a scaffold, and the researchers found their model expressed neurodevelopment features as normal.

“We showed that proliferation, differentiation, and migration happen in the 3D bioprinted constructs and can be studied at the cellular and molecular levels,” said Porcionatto.

Since many neurological diseases originate during embryonic development, the model can be used to study various conditions like schizophrenia or micro- or macrocephaly, conditions related to abnormal infant head sizes.

The researchers are working on three future projects using their model, including using induced pluripotent stem cells from a patient with autism spectrum disorder and macrocephaly, creating a model to study schizophrenia, and aging the cells in the 3D bioprinted construct to study neurodegeneration.

Source: “3D bioprinted human iPSC-derived neural progenitor cells as a novel platform for studying neurogenic niche,” by Lucas Simões Machado, Paula Scanavez Ferreira, Marina Rodrigues Pires, Larissa Valdemarin Bim, Natália Heloísa de Oliveira, Geisa Rodrigues Salles, Natalia Dall’Agnol Ferreira, Elisa Marozzi Cruz, and Marimelia Aparecida Porcionatto, APL Bioengineering (2025). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0276704 .