As a constitutively active kinase, glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) is a kinase which regulates body metabolism by phosphorylation of glycogen synthase (GS) and other substrates. Considerable evidence suggests that GSK3 is involved in the common pathology underlying Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The overexpression or overactivation of GSK3 could induce a series of pathological changes, most of which are hallmarks of AD and T2DM. Therefore, GSK3 could be a novel target to treat these two age-dependent diseases. The inhibition of this kinase can prevent the aggregation of β-amyloid (Aβ) and hyperphosphorylation of tau protein. GSK3 inhibition can also be a promising strategy to ameliorate neurodegenerative developments. Its potential association with memory formation has been shown in electrophysiological and behavioral experiments. The neuroprotective effects of novel drugs developed to treat T2DM, glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) and its long-lasting analogs, have a possible link to GSK3 modification. Recent investigations of the interaction between the phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K) signaling pathway and the protective effect of novel GPL-1 receptor agonist geniposide on PC12 cells support this theory.

At the level of in vitro drug screening, the development of a phenotypic analysis system with high-content screening at the core provides a strong platform to support high-throughput drug screening. There are few systematic reports on brain organoids, as a new three-dimensional in vitro model, in terms of model stability, key phenotypic fingerprint, and drug screening schemes, and particularly regarding the development of screening strategies for massive numbers of traditional Chinese medicine monomers. This paper reviews the development of brain organoids and the advantages of brain organoids over induced neurons or cells in simulated diseases. The paper also highlights the prospects from model stability, induction criteria of brain organoids, and the screening schemes of brain organoids based on the characteristics of brain organoids and the application and development of a high-content screening system.

Tissue regeneration is a complex process involving large changes in cell proliferation, fate determination, and differentiation. Mitochondrial dynamics and metabolism play a crucial role in development and wound repair, but their function in large-scale regeneration remains poorly understood. Planarians offer an excellent model to investigate this process due to their remarkable regenerative abilities. In this study, we examine mitochondrial dynamics during planarian regeneration. We find that knockdown of the mitochondrial fusion gene, opa1, impairs both tissue regeneration and stem cell pluripotency. Interestingly, the regeneration defects caused by opa1 knockdown are rescued by simultaneous knockdown of the mitochondrial fission gene, drp1, which partially restores mitochondrial dynamics. Furthermore, we discover that Mito^low stem cells exhibit an enrichment of pluripotency due to their fate choices at earlier stages. Transcriptomic analysis reveals the delicate mitonuclear balance in metabolism and mitochondrial proteins in regeneration, controlled by mitochondrial dynamics. These findings highlight the importance of maintaining mitochondrial dynamics in large-scale tissue regeneration and suggest the potential for manipulating these dynamics to enhance stem cell functionality and regenerative processes.