An advanced human heart organoid system can be used to model embryonic heart development under pregestational diabetes-like conditions, researchers report in the journal Stem Cell Reports.
The organoids recapitulate hallmarks of pregestational diabetes-induced congenital heart disease found in mice and humans. The findings also showed that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and lipid imbalance are critical factors contributing to these disorders, which could be ameliorated with exposure to omega-3s.
“The new stem cell-based organoid technology employed will enable physiologically relevant studies in humans, allowing us to bypass animal models and obtain more information about relevant disease mechanisms, accelerating drug discovery and medical translation,” says senior study author Aitor Aguirre of Michigan State University.
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