Human brain tissue just connected inside a mouseScientists transplanted tiny lab-grown human brain structures into newborn mice specially modified to have little of their own cortex.
Within three months, the human tissue made up more than 90% of the combined cortex, developed blood vessels, became electrically active, and formed connections with the mouse nervous system. Some nerve fibers reached the spinal cord.
The mice with human grafts also performed above chance on a working-memory task, although researchers did not prove the human neurons caused the difference.
The tissue was still immature and did not form a human-like thinking brain. But this experiment could give scientists a powerful new way to study human brain development and diseases such as frontotemporal dementia.
@futurism
