Large-scale cortex-core structure formation in brain organoids

Brain organoids recapitulate a number of brain properties, including neuronal

diversity. However, do they recapitulate

brain shape? Using a hydrodynamic description for cell nuclei

as particles interacting via an attractive field generated by the

surrounding active cell

cytoskeleton, we quantify shape development in brain

organoids. Regions of cell nuclei overdensity in the linear regime drive the initial

seeding for cortex-core structures, which emerge in the non-linear regime with

elongated cell nuclei and thus, cell shape, in the cortex. We then use

an extended version of the buckling without

bending morphogenesis model to predict foliations/folds of the

cortex in the presence of a nonlinearity due to elongated cells actively

regulating strain. In addition to laying new groundwork for the design

of more familiar and less familiar brain shapes, our work provides an intriguing

quantitative connection with large-scale structure formation in the universe.