Organoid vs. Spheroid: What's the Difference? | Corning

The terms "spheroid" and "organoid" are kind of like jam or jelly.

Sure, they mean similar things, and they're often used interchangeably — most of the time, you'll get by just fine using either. But there are distinct differences between the two in how they're made and what they do.

如果你的re just looking to make a sandwich, either jam or jelly will do the job. But if you want to get started incomplex 3D cell culture,你需要知道的区别- - - right one.

Spheroids and organoids are 3D structures composed of multiple cells. Each can be useful in 3D cell research — but in different ways because they're made differently.

• Organoidsare complex clusters of organ-specific cells, such as those from the stomach, liver, or bladder. They're made of stem cells or progenitor cells and self-assemble when given a scaffolding extracellular environment, such asCorning® Matrigel® matrixor collagen. When that happens, they grow into microscopic versions of parent organs viable for 3D study.
• Spheroidsare simple clusters of broad-ranging cells, such as from tumor tissue, embryoid bodies, hepatocytes, nervous tissue, or mammary glands. They don't require a scaffolding to form 3D cultures; they do so by simply sticking to each other. However, they can't self-assemble or regenerate, and thus aren't as advanced as organoids.

Organoids and spheroids can each producein vivo-like iterations fromin vitrocultures, but they have unique applications, and different lab scenarios might call for different multicellular structures.

Organoid Applications

Organoid technology has been used to great success in personalized medicine — in disease modeling as well as optimizing drug discovery and regenerative medicine. The applications of organoids in CRISPR research could similarly help scientists better study organ development within the context of gene editing.

Specific to cancer research, 3D organoids can provide insight into the mutational signatures of selected cancers because they can mimic the pathophysiology of human tumors.

Organoids can also function as a self-assembling miniature manifestation of a parent organ, which can be of particular benefit to researchers. For example,neural organoidsbring us closer to understanding diseases in the brain, while researchers have studiedintestinal organoidsto better understand cystic fibrosis.

Spheroid Applications

Perhaps most notably,tumor spheroidscan help scientists understand thein vivomicroenvironments of tumors, which can help researchers predict drug efficacy in cancer research. The earliest iterations of spheroids weredeveloped in the 1970sto study the impact of radiotherapy on human tumor cells.

Spheroids can also be used in stem cell research to develop embryoid bodies from induced pluripotent stem cells, which can then be turned into high-purity neural stem cells useful in studying neural diseases and their related treatments.

Scientists have also used tumor spheroids to study the cytotoxic effects of CAR-T cells — such as with the KILR^®Cytotoxicity assay developed by DiscoverX. When CAR-T cells are grown in KILR-transduced tumor spheroids, scientists can form, culture, and assay on the samespheroid microplate.

Whichever structure suits your needs, spheroids and organoids can unlock greater insights for cell research in ways 2D studies simply can't. As research continues, the field is primed for even greater success — which means more opportunities to tap into the growing power of 3D research.