Scientists have created mice whose brains are composed of 50% human cells, with the aim of better understanding brain disorders and developing new treatments.
The cells were transplanted into mice genetically modified to be born without a cerebral cortex or hippocampus.
Researchers can now take cells from patients with brain disorders, turn them into brain tissue in the lab and then grow the tissue in living animals. They can then study the animals to observe how the disorder develops in human brain tissue and how drugs might be used to treat these conditions.
The research raises ethical questions, including whether these tissue structures could develop consciousness and how the animals are treated.
“As a scientific community, we are trying very hard to find treatments for these conditions, but the reality is that psychiatry and neurology have fallen behind every other branch of medicine, and we have fewer treatment options than in almost any other area of medicine,” said Sergiu Pașca, a professor of psychiatry who led the research at Stanford University.
“This may be because the human brain is extremely complex, but also because it is not easily accessible,” he added.
Although organoids could potentially transform the treatment of brain disorders, they have raised a range of ethical concerns, including whether these structures could develop consciousness or experience pain, as well as questions about the treatment of animals.
Source: The Guardian
