Stem Cell-Derived Neural Organoids: From the Origin to Next Generation

The advance of stem cell research has enabled researchers to generate organoids: three-dimensional tissues with biological structures and functions. By application of organoid technology with human pluripotent stem cells, organoids provided an epoch-making platform to study human development in a dish to uncover cellular and molecular behavior in health and disease. Regarding the complex central nervous system, several brain regions such as the cerebrum, hippocampus, cerebellum, hypothalamus, pituitary gland, neural retina, and spinal cord are induced as organoids that have physiological activities with neuronal connections. These achievements will bring us many advantages, such as facilitating drug discovery and advancing medicine in the future; on the other hand, the generation of human cerebral tissues like in vivo counterparts induces ethical concerns, such as the emergence of consciousness in cerebral organoids. This chapter first focuses on the history and current progress of neural organoid technologies, then focuses on the future of neural organoid research from multiple viewpoints related to possible consciousness.