Some sources suggest that some “exotic embryos” are likely to grow soon in Japan. A research group in Japan received approval from a Japanese government panel on July 24 to proceed with an experiment centered on injecting human stem cells Animal embryos.
Once embryos have been transplanted, human cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells, may grow into organs, writer Laura Giggel said in a report in the journal Life Science.
If the experiment works, the researchers eventually plan to transplant human organs into other animals, such as pigs. "Perhaps these organs could be used in the future in human organ transplants," the researchers said.
Ronald Parcham, associate professor of neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, believes that "it is very exciting that the Japanese government agrees to do such an experiment, since it is likely to help many patients or people in need of different types of tissue." Or alternative members. "
The writer noted that in March, Japan sparked a major media debate when it lifted a ban on human cell growth in animal embryos, which was a barrier to stem cell biologist at Stanford University and the University of Tokyo, Hiromitsu Nakuchi, who has been following this research for more Of a decade.
Mice embryos
Nakochi said that if he gets approval, he plans to program the embryos of mice not to develop the pancreas. Next, Nakuchi will transfer human induced pluripotent stem cells to those embryos, resulting in the growth of human pancreas in rodent embryos.
Once the embryos develop and generate fully developed mice, the researchers plan to spend up to two years monitoring them.
It should be noted that the government has put some strict restrictions on the search. For example, if scientists detect human cells in more than 30% of the brains of rodents, scientists should stop the experiment.
She said many researchers and ethicists were worried that many human cells would penetrate the brain of experimental mice. In an interview with Life Science, Parcham explained that "changes in cognitive or mental abilities may somehow occur in these mice." He said he did not know exactly what would happen, but their predictions indicated that mice were unlikely to acquire human traits or behavior.
Nakuchi said the human-induced stimulating stem cells were injected into a fertilized ova egg at Stanford University, but these human cells did not turn the embryo into a strange human-like creature. (The hybrid embryo was eliminated after 28 days of development.)
In an interview with the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, Nakuchi noted that "the number of human cells that grew in the ewe was so small that it could not allow the birth of an animal with a human face." According to Asahi Shimbun, his team plans to conduct the experiment using other human organs, including the liver and kidneys.
Khimer
According to the author, the method used by Nakuchi is scientifically sound, because it does not involve merely inserting cells of one organism into another embryo, which often does not work. The organism obtained is eventually called chimerism, an animal with two or more cell types.
For his part, Parcham noted that scientists have conducted experiments on animals of the same species, such as quails and chickens, for decades, because it helps researchers to identify evolutionary biology. "Our ability to make human khmer is very poor," Parchem said. "There is a lot of evidence that human cells are very poorly integrated into other animal species like pigs, mice, rats and sheep.
The author noted that scientists should now know the progress of Nakuchi's experiments. Search based on their findings. "