Scientists have produced laboratory mice in which a quarter of the brain cells are human. The
research - which brings to mind Stuart Little, the talking mouse in
last year's Hollywood blockbuster - will likely to create intense
controversy reports Mail online.
The research raises questions about the boundaries
between humans and animals even thought the mice still has the characters of a mice.
The same scientists are now considering a research project to grow a mouse whose brain is populated almost entirely with human cells -although there would have to be a thorough ethical review before this step is taken.
The original study involved isolating human stem cells - the 'mother cells' that can develop into any other type of cell - and then introducing them into mice.
As the mice matured, the stem cells grew into a full range of specialised cells throughout each mouse brain.
The researchers believe that these mice could be used to test treatments for brain diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and stroke.
By introducing millions of stem cells into a human patient, scientists hope one day to be able to replace damaged brain cells and cure these debilitating diseases.
The so-called 'chimaeric brain' developed in the mice showed that human brain cells can flourish in a mouse's skull.
Researcher Irving Weissman, of Stanford University, said: 'It looks like human cells can follow the developmental instructions put in by the mouse brain. They are making human components in what is clearly a mouse brain.'
Professor Weissman said he was now considering an experiment in which he would inject human stem cells into the embryos of a mouse strain whose own brain cells were programmed to die as the animal develops.
'In that way we might be able to produce mice in which a vast majority of neurones are human,' he said.
A mouse with a human brain would still have the brain size and overall anatomy of a mouse and Professor Weissman believes it would still behave like a normal mouse.
But such an animal would be very useful to researchers. Scientists could test the effect of drugs on the human brain before starting clinical trials, and genetically modify the brain to identify the function of particular genes.
The same scientists are now considering a research project to grow a mouse whose brain is populated almost entirely with human cells -although there would have to be a thorough ethical review before this step is taken.
The original study involved isolating human stem cells - the 'mother cells' that can develop into any other type of cell - and then introducing them into mice.
As the mice matured, the stem cells grew into a full range of specialised cells throughout each mouse brain.
The researchers believe that these mice could be used to test treatments for brain diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and stroke.
By introducing millions of stem cells into a human patient, scientists hope one day to be able to replace damaged brain cells and cure these debilitating diseases.
The so-called 'chimaeric brain' developed in the mice showed that human brain cells can flourish in a mouse's skull.
Researcher Irving Weissman, of Stanford University, said: 'It looks like human cells can follow the developmental instructions put in by the mouse brain. They are making human components in what is clearly a mouse brain.'
Professor Weissman said he was now considering an experiment in which he would inject human stem cells into the embryos of a mouse strain whose own brain cells were programmed to die as the animal develops.
'In that way we might be able to produce mice in which a vast majority of neurones are human,' he said.
A mouse with a human brain would still have the brain size and overall anatomy of a mouse and Professor Weissman believes it would still behave like a normal mouse.
But such an animal would be very useful to researchers. Scientists could test the effect of drugs on the human brain before starting clinical trials, and genetically modify the brain to identify the function of particular genes.
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