Scientists insert ‘human mini brains’ into rat skulls and create ‘mutant creatures’ with better eyesight
SCIENTISTS have transplanted lab-grown human brains into rats in an experiment that cured rodent sight problems.
The “mini-brains”, also known as human brain organoids, were transplanted into rats with “visual processing” injuries.
The transplants were then said to solve the sight problems that the rats were having.
This could have great repercussions for human medicine as well.
According to Live Science, the team is hoping to improve on their brain organoids so they can mimic a human brain.
Human mini brains essentially acted as a patch over injuries in the rat brains and repaired damaged connections.
The researchers behind the experiment hope a similar process could one day help humans with sight issues.
Dr. Han-Chiao Isaac Chen, the study’s senior author, said: “I see this as the first step in developing a new strategy for repairing the brain.”
The team’s research can be found in full in the journal Cell Stem Cell.
It includes graphic images demonstrating how the lump of lab-grown human brain is inserted into the rat.
The human organoids were grown from stem cells to be the perfect size for patching up the rat brains.
They were transplanted into the rat’s visual cortex that had already been injured.
The study concluded: “Brain organoids created from human pluripotent stem cells represent a promising approach for brain repair.
“They acquire many structural features of the brain and raise the possibility of patient-matched repair.”