We are attending the SOT Annual Meeting 2018 in Texas, from 11-15 March 2018. We will be available throughout the conference at booth 760 as well as in our workshop, March 12. Join us!
We would be delighted to meet you
Make sure you stop by:
✓ Our Booth #760
✓ Our Workshop (find out more)
✓ Our Poster (find out more)
- Spheroid culture of motor neurons generates mature cells with axons of 1000-1600 µm in length
- The motor neurons in this model form functional mature neuromuscular junctions with muscle fibers causing them to twitch and contract when stimulated
- This new human-specific model is a platform for drug development against motor neuron disease
In landmark work published in Scientific Reports Rimington et al. describe how they have succeeded in recreating the mature adult NMJ using Axol’s motor neuron progenitor cells (ax0078).[1] The team hope their 3D human NMJ model will replace animal models and monolayer cellular models, improving the translation of therapies to the clinic.
The team built the 3D NMJ by encouraging ax0078 motor neurons to synapse with primary muscle tissue cells obtained from healthy male adult volunteers and cultured in a 3D matrix. To do this, the team adopted a 3D spheroid culture approach that had previously been successful when culturing motor neurons with vascular cells.[2]
