Single cell analysis of iPSC-derived cortical organoids in biofunctionalized gelatin hydrogels

Human neural organoid models have become an important tool for studying neurobiology. In this work, we compared Matrigel to an N-cadherin peptide-functionalized gelatin methacryloyl hydrogel (termed GelMA-Cad) for culturing cortical neural organoids. Specifically, we compare five materials: (1) Matrigel, (2) GelMA-Cad with high crosslinker (HC), (3) GelMA-Cad with low crosslinker (LC), (4) GelMA HC and (5) GelMA LC. We determined that both mechanical properties and peptide presentation can tune cell fate and diversity in gelatin-based matrices during differentiation. Of particular note, cortical organoids cultured in GelMA-Cad produce higher numbers of neurogenic and ciliated radial glia and upper-layer excitatory neurons—an important population for modeling neurodegenerative disease—compared to GelMA and Matrigel controls.