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Hybrid brains: the ethics of transplanting human neurons into animals

Transplanting human cells into animal brains brings insights into development and disease along with new ethical questions.
  1. Kendall Powell

    1. Kendall Powell is a science journalist in Boulder, Colorado.

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Human stem-cell derived neurons transplanted into a mouse brain

Human neurons made from stem cells (green) two weeks after being transplanted into a mouse brain. Credit: Pierre Vanderhaeghen

In a darkened room in a laboratory in London, a group of students and researchers watch a clump of human brain cells settle into their new home: a living mouse brain. On a computer monitor next to a microscope, the human cells light up in flashes of simultaneous activity. Over time, the cells sprout new connections a few centimetres long, and form networks with each other. It’s captivating viewing for his students, says Vincenzo De Paola, who runs the lab at Imperial College London. “It’s all they want to do. I can’t tear them away,” he says.

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Nature 608, 22-25 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02073-4

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