Diabetic Mice Cured By Mouse Cells Cultivated In Rats
- 7 years ago
Japanese researchers have cured a group of lab mice suffering from diabetes. They did so by growing mouse pancreas inside rats and then transferring cells from it into the mice.
Japanese researchers have cured a group of lab mice suffering from diabetes, reports Gizmodo.
They did so by growing mouse pancreas inside rats and then transferring cells from it into the mice.
The first step was coaxing a rat body to produce a mouse organ, which was accomplished by breeding pancreas-free rat embryos and injecting them with stem cells from mice.
It was a success, as not only did it result in pancreas' formation, the organs were almost entirely comprised of mouse cells.
Once extracted, the portion of the pancreas that controls insulin production was isolated and cells from it were transferred to the diabetic rodents.
The mice were soon declared diabetes free, and stayed that way for about a year.
Further, they only required treatment with immunosuppressive drugs for 5 days.
Scaling the procedure up to a point where it could be beneficial to humans is a process fraught with complications, both technical and ethical.
Among them are finding a species capable of growing human organs and determining at what point that animal has enough in common with people to be considered one.
Japanese researchers have cured a group of lab mice suffering from diabetes, reports Gizmodo.
They did so by growing mouse pancreas inside rats and then transferring cells from it into the mice.
The first step was coaxing a rat body to produce a mouse organ, which was accomplished by breeding pancreas-free rat embryos and injecting them with stem cells from mice.
It was a success, as not only did it result in pancreas' formation, the organs were almost entirely comprised of mouse cells.
Once extracted, the portion of the pancreas that controls insulin production was isolated and cells from it were transferred to the diabetic rodents.
The mice were soon declared diabetes free, and stayed that way for about a year.
Further, they only required treatment with immunosuppressive drugs for 5 days.
Scaling the procedure up to a point where it could be beneficial to humans is a process fraught with complications, both technical and ethical.
Among them are finding a species capable of growing human organs and determining at what point that animal has enough in common with people to be considered one.