Modeling maternal cholesterol exposure reveals a reduction of neural progenitor proliferation using human cerebral organoids

Maternal obesity raises the risk of high-cholesterol exposure for their offspring. Studies in cohorts and animal models report that maternal obesity could increase the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) in offspring including intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, whether exposure to high cholesterol is responsible for brain developmental defects, as well as its underlying mechanism, is still unclear. Here, we constructed a cholesterol exposure model utilizing hiPSC-derived cerebral organoids by exogenously adding cholesterol into the culture system. We preformed scRNA sequence analysis to explore the gene expression changes in brain organoids under additional cholesterol exposure. Overall design: one sample from brain organoids under additional cholesterol treatment.