What are the differences between organoids and spheroids?

Question

Accepted Answer

Organoids and spheroids are two commonly used techniques for establishing 3D cell cultures and both of them are made of multiple cells. There are several distinct differences between them.

Basis of comparison
Organoids
Spheroids

Definition
Complex clusters of organ-specific cells such as those from liver, stomach or bladder
Simple clusters of broad-ranging cells such as from nervous tissue, tumor tissue, mammary glands or hepatocytes

Origin
Derived from a single adult stem cell or embryonic stem cell capable of self-renewing and differentiating into multiple lineages in vitro
Derived from immortalized cell lines, primary cells, or fragments of human tissue

Features
Often display a very accurate microanatomy
Heterogeneous, containing layers of cells with some exposed to the surface and others buried within the sphere

Driving force for development

Internal developmental processes
Cell-to-cell adhesion

Scaffolding requirement
Cells self-assemble when given a scaffolding extracellular environment
Scaffolding is not required &ndash; cells assemble by simply sticking to each other

Representation
Multiple cell lineages
Single/partial tissue components

Recapitulation/resemblance
Recapitulate organ physiological parameters
Transiently resemble cell organization

Viability
Long term culture capable of retaining genetic features of the original organ over several generations
Difficult to maintain long term due to inherent technical difficulties in extracting and maintaining viable cells

Applicaitons

Personalized medicine including disease modeling, optimizing drug discovery and regenerative medicine
Study of organ development within the context of gene editing
Study of mutational signatures of selected cancers
Studies related to understanding various diseases

Study of in vivo microenvironments of tumors to predict drug efficacy in cancer research
Study of the impact of radiotherapy on human tumor cells.
Stem cell research related to development of embryoid bodies from induced pluripotent stem cells

Basis of comparison	Organoids	Spheroids
Definition	Complex clusters of organ-specific cells such as those from liver, stomach or bladder	Simple clusters of broad-ranging cells such as from nervous tissue, tumor tissue, mammary glands or hepatocytes
Origin	Derived from a single adult stem cell or embryonic stem cell capable of self-renewing and differentiating into multiple lineages in vitro	Derived from immortalized cell lines, primary cells, or fragments of human tissue
Features	Often display a very accurate microanatomy	Heterogeneous, containing layers of cells with some exposed to the surface and others buried within the sphere
Driving force for development	Internal developmental processes	Cell-to-cell adhesion
Scaffolding requirement	Cells self-assemble when given a scaffolding extracellular environment	Scaffolding is not required – cells assemble by simply sticking to each other
Representation	Multiple cell lineages	Single/partial tissue components
Recapitulation/resemblance	Recapitulate organ physiological parameters	Transiently resemble cell organization
Viability	Long term culture capable of retaining genetic features of the original organ over several generations	Difficult to maintain long term due to inherent technical difficulties in extracting and maintaining viable cells
Applicaitons	Personalized medicine including disease modeling, optimizing drug discovery and regenerative medicine Study of organ development within the context of gene editing Study of mutational signatures of selected cancers Studies related to understanding various diseases	Study of in vivo microenvironments of tumors to predict drug efficacy in cancer research Study of the impact of radiotherapy on human tumor cells. Stem cell research related to development of embryoid bodies from induced pluripotent stem cells

What are the differences between organoids and spheroids?

Posted February 1, 2022