Organotypic culture of human brain explants as a preclinical model for AI-driven antiviral studies.
EMBO Mol Med
; 16(4): 1004-1026, 2024 Apr.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38472366
ABSTRACT
Viral neuroinfections represent a major health burden for which the development of antivirals is needed. Antiviral compounds that target the consequences of a brain infection (symptomatic treatment) rather than the cause (direct-acting antivirals) constitute a promising mitigation strategy that requires to be investigated in relevant models. However, physiological surrogates mimicking an adult human cortex are lacking, limiting our understanding of the mechanisms associated with viro-induced neurological disorders. Here, we optimized the Organotypic culture of Post-mortem Adult human cortical Brain explants (OPAB) as a preclinical platform for Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven antiviral studies. OPAB shows robust viability over weeks, well-preserved 3D cytoarchitecture, viral permissiveness, and spontaneous local field potential (LFP). Using LFP as a surrogate for neurohealth, we developed a machine learning framework to predict with high confidence the infection status of OPAB. As a proof-of-concept, we showed that antiviral-treated OPAB could partially restore LFP-based electrical activity of infected OPAB in a donor-dependent manner. Together, we propose OPAB as a physiologically relevant and versatile model to study neuroinfections and beyond, providing a platform for preclinical drug discovery.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Antiviral Agents
/
Hepatitis C, Chronic
Limits:
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
EMBO Mol Med
Journal subject:
BIOLOGIA MOLECULAR
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
France