A team of scientists from the University of Luxembourg managed to implant “artificial” neurons in the brain of mice

A team of specialists from the University of Luxembourg can celebrate two achievements at once. First, they were able to transform the skin cells of mice into neurons (in fact, other teams of scientists also succeeded). The second, more important event is the engraftment of “artificial” neurons in the mouse brain.

Moreover, the engraftment is long-term, more than six months have passed since the implantation, and the mice live and live, the brain functions normally.

At first glance, the news is not very significant. However, such an achievement can have wide-reaching consequences, including the possibility of replacing damaged brain neurons in people with neuro-degenerative diseases, which will allow treating the same Parkinson's disease, for example.

Actually, experiments with mice are carried out by Luxembourg scientists precisely for this purpose: finding a way to replace individual neurons of the human brain. So far, working with a person is still very far away, the study leader notes, but nevertheless, there is already hope for a successful outcome of such work.

In any case, the same operated mice with artificial neurons in the hippocampus and cortex now feel good, and their behavior is practically no different from the behavior of mice in the control group. Side effects also do not occur.

At the same time, the implanted neurons do not just “live” in the brain of the mouse, they have established a reliable connection with neighboring “native” neurons (new synapses have appeared), and they already work as a whole.

Via alphagalileo