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12h ago

Study Shows Brain Develops From Two Separate Progenitor Lineages

That developmental split let researchers grow functional human hindbrain motor neurons in the lab, creating a new platform to study brainstem diseases.

A Stanford-led study suggests the brain begins developing from two distinct types of early cells, challenging a long-held view of how the organ forms.

Overview

  • The peer-reviewed study, published Sept. 18, 2026, used lineage tracing in mouse gastrulation to identify two non‑overlapping progenitor populations—an Otx2‑expressing anterior lineage for forebrain/midbrain and a Gbx2‑expressing posterior lineage for hindbrain.
  • Chromatin profiling showed the two progenitor groups have distinct DNA‑packaging states that lock cells onto separate fates and explain why prior attempts failed to convert anterior progenitors into hindbrain cells.
  • Applying that blueprint, the team guided human pluripotent stem cells to become electrically active hindbrain motor neurons in vitro for the first time, with markers and activity matching cells that control swallowing and facial movement.
  • Comparative analyses found the same anterior/posterior split in chicken, zebrafish and acorn worm embryos, which suggests the dual‑origin pattern is evolutionarily conserved over roughly 550–600 million years.
  • Authors and reporters highlight immediate uses for modeling SMA and ALS and testing drugs, but they caution the results derive from animal lineage tracing and in vitro work and cannot fully rule out a very brief common progenitor window or the need to integrate these neurons into more complete, vascularized systems.