Altered Extracellular Matrix Structure and Elevated Stiffness in a Brain Organoid Model for Disease

The viscoelasticity of tissues impacts their shape, as well as the growth and differentiation of their cells. Nevertheless, little is known about changes in viscoelastic properties during brain malformations. Lissencephaly is a severe malformation of cortical development caused by LIS1 mutations, which results in a lack of cortical convolutions. Here, we show that human-derived brain organoids with LIS1 mutation are stiffer than control ones at multiple developmental times. This stiffening is accompanied by abnormal ECM expression and organization, as well as elevated water content, as measured by diffusion-weighted MRI. Proteolytic cleavage of ECM components by short-term treatment with the catalytic subunit of MMP9 reduced the stiffening and water diffusion levels of mutated organoids to control levels. Finally, based on the molecular and rheological properties obtained, we generated a computational microstructure mechanical model that can successfully predict mechanical changes that follow differential ECM localization and integrity in the developing brain. Overall, our study reveals that LIS1 is essential for the expression and organization of ECM proteins during brain development, and its mutation leads to a substantial viscoelastic change. To our knowledge, this is the first study to elucidate how tissue mechanics change in disease states using human brain organoids.