Hormone pathways in human neural organoids

The researchers show the first systematic, high-resolution map of how hormonal pathways sculpt the developing human brain.

 Using neural organoids, they show that distinct endocrine pathways converge on shared developmental programs and remodel neural cell states, providing a foundational resource to study neurological, neuropsychiatric, and neurooncological vulnerabilities and the physiopathology of endocrine disruption by genetic or environmental factors.

By integrating single-cell and bulk transcriptomics, high-throughput imaging, and targeted steroidomics, they mapped exactly how seven hormones redirect molecular, cellular, and physical tissue architecture.

They also show that retinoic acid drives neurogenesis and caudalization and alters nuclear architecture.

https://www.cell.com/cell-press-blue/fulltext/S3051-3839(26)00075-7

https://sciencemission.com/cell-atlas-of-endocrine-signaling