Human Neurons In Rat Brains Prove Regeneration
Channel: Lifespan News
Date: 2023-02-27

Human beings do generate new neurons through a process called neurogenesis,  but this ability is very limited. It’s no match for the brain damage that happens on a daily basis. To try and learn how to combat this, in a breakthrough study, scientists have grafted human brain organoids into the brains of rats.

Previous research has shown that rodent fetal brain tissue can be grafted into the brain of adult rodents, with the transplanted neurons able to become functional in the new brain. They have not tried this on humans because obviously acquiring human fetal brain tissue is problematic to put it lightly. Fortunately, brain tissue derived from induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs, has been shown to form organoids that mimic the properties of human brain regions.

A new study, published in Cell Stem Cell, analyzes how well the organoids integrate with the visual cortex of rats. In a series of experiments the visual cortices were removed and replaced by iPSC organoids that had been modified to express fluorescent proteins for better visualization.

Approximately four-fifths of the organoids successfully took root in the animals, which were studied at one, two, and three months after the transplantation. And of the ones that took root, there appeared to be no gradual failure.

As expected, the grafts matured and transitioned away from stem cells to fully functional neurons. The best part? The organoids appeared to work. Synaptic connections were demonstrably formed between the human organoid and the rat brain, and information processing was confirmed to occur.

This just raises so many questions. Is the rat smarter now because of the human neurons? It’s in the visual center so does it see new colors? Can this enhance self awareness? Conscious? Can we squirt in a language center and have talking rats? Whose stem cells were used to make the Organoids and are they living on in the rat?

Back to the science - they did find that the organoids had significantly more connections than the rest of the rat brain tissue, which they believe could be due to the fact that the organoids hadn't undergone the pruning process that occurs as the brain matures. Otherwise, the organoids appeared to function similarly to the rest of the brain.

Unfortunately, the experiment was not completely safe. Out of the 46 animals tested, eight died before the examinations took place.

While this experiment was performed on rats, the use of human cells provides hope for people who have experienced brain damage or stroke. However, the use of immunosuppressants makes this procedure potentially dangerous.

If you were excited by this and you want to learn more about the brain, check out Lifespan.io, where there’s an entire page dedicated to what you need to know - https://www.lifespan.io/topic/brain/

SOURCES AND FURTHER READING
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Human Organoids for Brain Regeneration - https://www.lifespan.io/news/human-organoids-for-brain-regeneration/

Structural and functional integration of human forebrain organoids with the injured adult rat visual system - https://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(23)00004-8

Electrophysiological properties of embryonic neocortex transplants replacing the primary visual cortex of adult rats - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2207692/

Learn more about the brain - https://www.lifespan.io/topic/brain/

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