Scientists from the University Salk (USA) reported on the breakthrough in the work with brain organelles, whose lifetime has now become almost unlimited. They were able to address the issues of supply of cells with oxygen and nutrients throughout the volume of organoid without necrosis of individual sections. For this, the researchers implanted human brains in lab mice and they successfully caught.
The brain’s organelles are artificial structures, grown from stem cells that mimic the human brain in miniature. They were first created back in 2013, and today, scientists can grow a variety of types of organelles to study their pathology, developmental abnormalities, the effects of trauma and the impact on the brain of different factors. An important issue was to ensure their life – even in a special nutrient medium organelles survived no longer than 5 weeks.
Experts from the University Salk decided to use the ready, nature’s life-support system of the brain of laboratory mice, which excised a fragment the size of a lentil seed and replaced it with organoidom, closing the incision with a transparent window. About 80% of all implants successfully caught and after the 12 weeks, even started to grow brand-new neurons, adapting to the environment. The record of human life organelles in mouse brain was 233 days!
As soon as the survival of the organelles became apparent, immediately raised the question of bioethics: we created a mouse-human? How you will behave in a creature with a part of the brain other highly developed species? Answer: no, the mouse remains a mouse and all tests showed the same results as they are not operated counterparts. Rodents perform only the function of incubator, live factory farming organelles – a new kind of creatures in such a way to fail.
Source — Stat