Floating Follicles

When scientists keep cells and tissues in a lab we often say they’re ‘in a dish’. While this works for individual cells, if you want to study a tissue it’s sometimes less effective. A dish is flat, unlike the 3D environment inside a body where tissues normally grow, so structures might not develop properly. Solutions include growing the tissue inside a thick gel, or a flask that’s constantly turning. The second type is called simulated microgravity, and it keeps the samples near-weightless, like astronauts in orbit. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work for all cell types. Scientists took healthy sections of mouse ovary called follicles (pictured) and found that keeping them in simulated microgravity meant they didn't survive as long as those in a dish, and didn’t function as well. Understanding why this happened will show us how our bodies work in low gravity conditions, like in space.

Written by Esther Redhouse White

Esther Redhouse White

Writer

A recent Biochemistry graduate from York, Esther has worked on bacterial killing proteins and genetic switches in worms. In her spare time she likes visiting museums full of skeletons.

• Image from work by Shen Zhang and Dahan Zheng, and colleagues
• Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China and Department of Materials Engineering, Monash University, Victoria, Australia
• Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Published in PLOS ONE, March 2016