德国波恩大学Volker Busskamp团队研究出短暂血管化人视网膜类器官视网膜神经节细胞存活和功能成熟。这一研究成果于2026年1月12日发表在国际顶尖学术期刊《细胞—干细胞》上。

为了解决这些挑战，研究组结合了干细胞来源的内皮细胞来诱导瞬态血管样网络和主题微流体装置来稳定轴突生长。结果显示，类器官缺氧减少，体积增大，细胞凋亡减少，表明视网膜神经节细胞的长期存活和成熟得到改善。与微流体-微电极阵列的集成可以稳定地记录自发和光遗传诱发的活动，这些活动持续到控制类器官失去功能的时间。在后期，这些瞬时血管化的类器官显示出光感受器驱动的ON， OFF和ON-OFF光反应，表明回路水平的视网膜活动。这个生物工程平台建立了人类视网膜的长期功能模型，作为视网膜研究和治疗创新的变革性工具。

据了解，视网膜类器官被广泛用于模拟人类视网膜发育和疾病，但由于缺乏血管网络和稳定的轴突投射，它们的应用受到限制，这有助于视网膜神经节细胞变性和功能丧失。

附：英文原文

Title: Retinal ganglion cell survival and functional maturation in transiently vascularized human retinal organoids

Author: Kritika Sharma, Rouhollah Habibey, Mariana M. Ribeiro, Bohao Cui, Rebecca A. Siwicki, Johannes Striebel, Julia S. Pawlick, Jasmin Zorn, Larissa Utz, Magdalena Renner, Simone Picelli, Frank G. Holz, Carmen Ruiz de Almodóvar, Cameron S. Cowan, Volker Busskamp

Issue&Volume: 2026-01-12

Abstract: Retinal organoids are widely used to model human retinal development and disease, but their utility is limited by the absence of vascular networks and stable axonal projections, which contribute to retinal ganglion cell degeneration and loss of function. To address these challenges, we incorporated stem cell-derived endothelial cells to induce transient vascular-like networks and used microfluidic devices to stabilize axonal growth. The resulting organoids showed reduced hypoxia, increased size, and decreased apoptosis, indicating improved long-term survival and maturation of retinal ganglion cells. Integration with microfluidic-microelectrode arrays enabled stable recordings of spontaneous and optogenetically evoked activity, which persisted beyond the time when control organoids lost function. At later stages, these transiently vascularized organoids displayed photoreceptor-driven ON, OFF, and ON-OFF light responses, indicating circuit-level retinal activity. This bioengineered platform establishes a long-term, functional model of the human retina as a transformative tool for retinal research and therapeutic innovation.

DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2025.12.013

Source: https://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/abstract/S1934-5909(25)00447-3