To study human brain development and conditions, scientists have successfully scattered human brain cells into the smarts of mice. After the transplant, brain cells are said to grow and form connections, The Associated Press reports.
“Many disorders, such as autism and schizophrenia, are likely to be uniquely human”, but “the human brain is certainly not very accessible,” said Dr Sergiu Pasca, senior author of a study describing this work published in the journal Nature.
Glad to share our latest work out in @Nature today
We show that human cortical #organoids transplanted into the somatosensory cortex of newborn rats develop mature cell types and integrate into sensory circuits and can influence reward-seeking behavior https://t.co/pUQt9CbbmM pic.twitter.com/OBr041KyvE— Sergiu P. Pasca (@Sergiu_P_Pasca) October 12, 2022
The research team’s previous work builds on the brain “organoids,” which are tiny structures resembling human organs such as the liver, kidney, prostate, or their significant parts.
Scientists at Stanford University converted human skin cells into stem cells, blandished and sluggishly multiplied to form organoids suggesting the cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex is the remotest subcaste of the human brain, important in effects like memory, thinking, literacy, logic, and feelings.
Pascha, professor of psychiatry at the Stanford School of Medicine, said this is the first time these organoids have been placed in early rat smarts, creating” the most advanced mortal brain circuitry ever erected from dead skin cells and demonstrating that implanted human neurons can impact the geste of the beast.”
