Oh, the joy of trying to mimic the complexity of the human spinal cord in a petri dish! For years, scientists have been scratching their heads, trying to create in vitro models that do justice to the intricate dance of electrophysiology and anatomy that is the spinal cord. And, let’s be honest, the progress has been more like a two-step than a tango. The current state of affairs? A bit of a mess, with both in vivo and in vitro models for spinal cord diseases still in the “awkward adolescence” phase of development. This makes finding those game-changing therapies a tad difficult.

Enter the shining knight: organoids derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs). These little blobs of cells are the new hope for in vitro spinal cord disease modeling. But, plot twist, their go-to dance floor, Matrigel, is essentially a gelatinous mix from mouse tumors. Not exactly the ideal environment for human spinal cord cells looking to grow and thrive in a way that resembles their natural habitat.

So, what’s the groundbreaking solution? A rat decellularized brain extracellular matrix hydrogel (DBECMH), of course! Because when you’re trying to study human disease, your first thought is definitely, “Let’s get some rat brain goo.” Surprisingly (or not), this rat brain concoction turns out to be a better party host for the spinal cord organoids than Matrigel. The organoids in this rat-derived gel showed off by expressing higher levels of spinal cord markers, basically saying, “Look at us, we’re more like the real deal.”

The moral of the story? Rat brain goo might just be the VIP ticket for human spinal cord organoids to advance from the kiddie table to the adult’s table in the world of in vitro disease modeling. Who would have thought?