Human cerebral organoids as a new legal and ethical challenge†

Abstract

Human cerebral organoids (HCOs) are miniature brains cultivated in a dish using pluripotent human cells that, thanks to advanced technologies, tend to reproduce the development path of the brain of an embryo in the mother’s uterus. Recent data from studies carried out in different laboratories have indicated that HCOs show complex electrical activity, are receptive to light stimuli, and can command a muscle connected to them. The presence of the main neuronal structures in them suggests that, despite currently lacking vascularization and sensory exchanges with the outside world, more developed HCOs could exhibit some rudimentary form of consciousness, specifically a minimal sentience with respect to the basic experiences of pain and pleasure. Faced with this possibility, which for many scientists is still a long way off, we have begun to reflect on how we could empirically investigate the presence of consciousness. If we were certain or had a reasonable belief that some types of HCOs are sentient, what kind of entity would we judge them to be? Would they have specific legal protection? Should they be attributed to a moral status? This article tries to give an initial answer to these two questions. On the one side, it seems that no special rights can be claimed for HCOs other than those relating to human biological material. On the other side, instead, a sentient HCO could aspire to having its moral status recognized. If this were the case, the law may have to adapt to this unprecedented situation.

Patients' perspectives on the derivation and use of organoids

“…Nevertheless, our interviewees clearly viewed brain organoids, and sometimes gonadal organoids, as morally distinct from other organoid types. Some of these concerns reflect discussions described in conceptual literature regarding “consciousness” ( Sawai et al., 2019 ; Hyun et al, 2020b ; Lavazza and Pizzetti, 2020 ), while others involved nuanced associations with what it means to be human. Perhaps surprisingly, despite such concerns, patients generally understood the potential value of such research and approved of it, provided it was motivated by good intent and conducted with ethics oversight and a robust consent process.…”

Organoids: a systematic review of ethical issues

“…Forty-nine articles discuss the ethical issues around the creation of brain organoids or cerebral organoids [ 21 , 22 , 27 – 29 , 43 – 50 , 52 , 54 , 55 , 57 – 59 , 62 – 65 , 68 , 71 – 92 ]. Both terms are used interchangeably.…”

“…In the future, it may even be possible to repair brain circuitry after damage following traumatic brain injury, stroke, or surgical resection [ 29 , 44 , 45 , 50 , 52 , 54 ]. Furthermore, various brain organoid models are under development where brain organoids are connected to other organoids, called ‘assembloids,’ which can provide information about the communication between the brain and other organs, such as the gut–brain relationship [ 54 , 57 , 71 , 76 , 81 , 94 ].…”

‘Consciousnessoids’: clues and insights from human cerebral organoids for the study of consciousness

“…2019 ; Lavazza 2019 , 2021 ; Sawai et al. 2019 ; Lavazza and Pizzetti 2020 ). The first is the factual observation that the development of scientific research on HCOs is progressing at a very fast pace, and many typical functions of the brain of a human being start being detected in brain surrogates grown in the laboratory.…”