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.
Cell Stem Cell/Jgamadze et al.The piece of mini brain on a rat’s brain can be seen in this image[/caption]
The transplants where then said to solve the sight problems that the rats were having.
This could have great repercussions for human medicine as well.
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 been injured for the experiment.