TAP Biosystems and OU Develop CNS Models  

TAP Biosystems and scientists at The Open University (OU) are jointly working on a three year project to produce robust 3D human central nervous system (CNS) tissue models for use in drug discovery and pre-clinical testing.

Using TAP’s RAFT technology, glial cells and neurons are seeded in collagen gel in a rectangular mould and tethered at each end. The cells contract the collagen and become highly aligned, mimicking the cellular arrangement of living CNS tissue.

Dr James Phillips, Lecturer in Health Sciences in the Faculty of Science at The Open University explained: “Astrocytes are CNS glial cells that normally support neuronal activity, but they change behaviour following damage and can inhibit regeneration. 2D cell cultures of astrocytes and neurons don’t behave in the same way as they do in a living organism and this can limit their range of uses.”

“We are using the RAFT process with astrocyte-seeded collagen gels. The cellular alignment created then allows the other types of cells in our 3D tissue model to organise themselves as they would in a natural environment. This means we can simulate the interaction between glial cells and regenerating neurons after CNS injury and monitor both cell types continuously. We can also carefully control variables, allowing us to test specific hypotheses, and we can look at the way each cell type responds, for example to specific drugs, in a very tightly controlled way without the additional complexity present in an animal model,” Dr Philips added.