Gel brains before (top) and after swelling (bottom): Image credit: Choi et al. (CC BY 4.0)
The wrinkled and folded surface of the human brain is both iconic and familiar. These folds allow a large cortical surface area to fit inside the skull and are essential for healthy brain function. The folds form during development when the brain’s outer layer – the cerebral cortex – grows faster than the tissue beneath it, causing the surface to buckle.
When this process is disrupted, the brain can develop abnormal folding patterns known as malformations of cortical development. In humans, these conditions are associated with epilepsy, intellectual disability and developmental delay. Studying how such malformations arise is challenging because human brain folding occurs before birth.
To address this, researchers use animal models. The ferret is particularly valuable because its brain develops folds similar to those in humans, and many genes linked to human cortical malformations produce comparable folding defects in ferrets. Choi et al. wanted to find out whether the wide range of brain folding abnormalities seen in ferrets and their homologs in humans could be explained by changes in just a few physical properties of the developing brain. Specifically, they tested whether mutations linked to human cortical malformations alter the thickness or growth rate of the cortex. This question is important because different genetic syndromes often result in surprisingly similar brain shapes.
By combining brain imaging, computer simulations, and physical gel models of brains that fold when their surfaces absorb solvents and swell (similar to how fingertips swell and wrinkle when wetted for a while), Choi et al. showed that normal brain folding in ferrets can be explained by mechanical forces generated during cortical growth.
Both physical experiments with gels and computer simulations of brains with varying cortical thickness or growth rates reproduced folding patterns seen in both healthy and genetically altered ferret brains and their human homologs. Local thinning of the cortex generated many small, tightly packed folds, resembling polymicrogyria, a condition linked to mutations such as those affecting the gene SCN3A, which encodes instructions to form a sodium channel. Reducing overall growth produced smaller, less folded brains similar to microcephaly, which is associated with genes such as ASPM. In contrast, weaker folding with shallow grooves – characteristic of lissencephaly – emerged when growth was reduced and cortical thickness increased, as seen with disruptions to genes such as TMEM161B.
These results suggest that diverse human genetic disorders converge on common physical mechanisms that shape the brain. The work of c provides a unifying framework linking specific genes to brain shape through physical growth processes. The ferret provides a useful model organism with direct implications for human brain development and misfolding. In the future, it could help researchers interpret human brain scans and understand why different genetic disorders lead to similar malformations. However, before such insights can inform clinical practice, the models will need to incorporate additional biological detail and examine how altered folding affects brain function. More broadly, the paper also raises the question of how variations in brain folding patterns arise in non-human brains, which is the subject of a related study.
