Karina Karmirian: D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Mariana Holubiec: Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia IBCN (UBA-CONICET), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Livia Goto-Silva: D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Ivan Fernandez Bessone: Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia IBCN (UBA-CONICET), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Gabriela Vitória: D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Beatriz Mello: D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Matias Alloatti: Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia IBCN (UBA-CONICET), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Bart Vanderborght: D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Tomás L Falzone: Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia IBCN (UBA-CONICET), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Stevens Rehen: D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. stevens.rehen@idor.org.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the primary cause of dementia, to date. The urgent need to understand the biological and biochemical processes related to this condition, as well as the demand for reliable in vitro models for drug screening, has led to the development of novel techniques, among which stem cell methods are of utmost relevance for AD research, particularly the development of human brain organoids. Brain organoids are three-dimensional cellular aggregates derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) that recreate different neural cell interactions and tissue characteristics in culture. Here, we describe the protocol for the generation of brain organoids derived from AD patients and for the analysis of AD-derived pathology. AD organoids can recapitulate beta-amyloid and tau pathological features, making them a promising model for studying the molecular mechanisms underlying disease and for in vitro drug testing.
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