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Human brain cells transplanted into mice in ‘most extensive’ integration ever
Nature • • general
Key Points:
- Researchers successfully transplanted human brain tissue into genetically engineered mice lacking the cerebral cortex, allowing the human cells to occupy over 90% of the vacant brain space and integrate with the animals' nervous systems.
- This study, published in Nature, represents the most extensive integration of human brain cells into an animal to date and offers a novel platform for studying neuropsychiatric diseases and testing drugs in a living body context.
- Ethical concerns about creating human-animal brain chimeras were addressed through extensive oversight and timing of the procedure to prevent human cells from influencing complex cognitive functions in the mice.
- The human brain tissue developed specialized neurons, including von Economo neurons linked to social cognition and neurodegenerative diseases, which had not previously been observed in lab-grown brain models.
- This approach overcomes limitations of previous models by eliminating competition for space in the brain, enabling human neurons to mature and form connections within a living organism.
