Researchers implant human brain cells into mice
US neuroscientists created mice whose brains contain functioning human cortical cells by engineering animals with almost no native cortex and implanting organoids grown from reprogrammed human skin cells. The implanted organoids connected with mouse brain and spinal cord circuitry, formed primate-specific cell types, and after months produced cortex-like tissue while basic mouse behaviour remained largely unchanged. Researchers say the model could enable study and testing of human-specific disorders such as epilepsy, autism and cerebral palsy, but the work is ethically scrutinized and likely to be used in a small number of labs.
Human-derived organoids functionally integrated into genetically modified mouse cortex.
Context
Earlier studies implanted human neurons into rodents. This team implanted larger human organoids into mice that lacked much of their cortex. Labs may next use these mice to study human brain disorders and test treatments.
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