Human cerebral organoids and neural 3D tissues in basic research, and their application to study neurological diseases

Research with neural tissue in 3D is receiving great attention recently, since 3D offers a more physiological setting than traditional 2D cultures. In this commentary we overview and compare cerebral organoids and other 3D aggregated cell cultures. Last we briefly summarize examples of neurological diseases, mostly neurodevelopmental, where organoids are starting to be of help to understand the disease etiology, and in some cases to design therapies. In vitro studies of neural tissue development, physiology, biochemistry, and molecular and cell biology are presently understood to be more relevant if experimental procedures are conducted in 3D as compared with 2D (monolayer...