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Mice Engineered to Grow Human Brain Tissue

Scientists have created a novel mouse model by genetically engineering animals to lack significant portions of their brain, creating space for human neural tissue to grow and integrate.

Researchers developed mice that are born without most of their cortex and hippocampus, creating a void for human brain organoids from stem cells.

In 25 of 29 attempts, transplanted human organoids integrated, expanding significantly and filling over 90% of the cortex over three months.

This model allows human neurons to mature and connect with the mouse nervous system, offering a platform to study human neural circuits and brain diseases.

The model was used to study cerebral palsy by subjecting mice to oxygen deprivation, showing human tissue injury and mouse coordination problems.

This technique could test therapeutics for cerebral palsy, frontotemporal dementia, and autism using patient-derived cells.

The extent of humanization raises ethical questions, but mice's cognitive abilities remain between normal and cortex-lacking mice.

Researchers focus on the functional integration and study potential, not on increased mouse intelligence.

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