2024-04-26 03:12:07
Is modern medicine pioneering the ‘impossible territory’?
U.S. research team succeeds in mouse brain recovery experiment
Scientists have succeeded in regenerating brain nerve cells using mouse stem cells. The brain, which cannot be repaired once damaged, is considered an area that cannot be dealt with even by modern medicine. Attention is being paid to whether this research will open a way to restore brain function lost due to disease and aging.
The research team of Professor Christine Baldwin of Columbia University and Professor Jun Woo of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center published two papers in international academic journals on the 26th (local time) in which they restored some brain functions in mice using stem cells and confirmed that they functioned normally. announced in Cell. This study, published in two papers, succeeded in forming a forebrain and regenerating olfactory function using rat stem cells. Since the experiment was conducted using mice, there is a long way to go before it can be applied to humans, but it is considered a meaningful progress as it confirms that stem cells are involved in brain regeneration and can function safely.
Professor Baldwin explained: “This study demonstrates the potential flexibility of the brain to use synthetic neural circuits to restore brain function.” Professor Woo commented, “Being able to generate brain tissue from other species could serve as a foundation for understanding brain development and evolution.”
In these studies, ‘blastocyst complementation’ technology was used to compensate for genetically deficient organs or tissues by injecting stem cells into early-stage embryos.
Professor Woo’s team developed a ‘CRISPR’-based platform that can first efficiently identify genes that drive the development of specific tissues in order to remove and regenerate specific areas from the brain. CRISPR, a characteristic base sequence found in DNA, is used to artificially correct the function of genes.
Professor Woo’s team used a CRISPR-based platform to select genes necessary for forebrain development in mice. As a result of investigating 7 types of genes, it was found that a gene named ‘Hesx1’ affects the formation of the forebrain. By disabling the function of this gene, we were able to stably create mice without a forebrain.
Professor Woo’s team tested whether a forebrain could be formed by restoring tissue using mouse stem cells. When stem cells were injected into early embryonic mice in which the Hesx1 gene had been deleted, these cells filled the empty parts of the cells and formed a forebrain. The forebrain formed in this way developed at the same rate as the parent rat. The created nerve cells transmitted signals to other nerve cells without problems. The forebrain was formed normally using stem cells without the genes involved in forebrain formation.
Professor Baldwin’s team also used blastocyst complementation technology. Using a specific gene, nerve cells involved in the sense of smell were removed or deactivated in mouse embryos and then the stem cells were injected. As a result, they succeeded in safely regenerating the olfactory nerve cells of mice.
The research team also confirmed that there are differences in the regenerative capacity and functional recovery of nerve cells depending on the method used in blastocyst complementation technology. The method of inactivating genes was found to be more advantageous for regenerating nerve cells than the method of removing genes. On the other hand, the function of regenerated nerve cells was restored more precisely when the gene was completely removed and then regenerated. In an experiment in which mice with restored olfactory nerve cells were asked to find hidden cookies, mice with the gene removed were better at finding cookies.
The two studies conducted this time also suggest that the brain can be developed using stem cells from other species. Previously, academic circles have been experimenting with growing human organs using pig stem cells using blastocyst complementation technology. A representative example is the success of last year’s attempt to grow human kidneys in a pig’s body. This means that in the future, such success stories may also emerge from the brain.
Professor Woo’s research team plans to conduct experiments with wild rodents in follow-up research. “There are more than 2,000 species of rodents in the world, many of which behave differently from the rodents we commonly study in the lab,” he said. “Experiments using neuronal blastocyst technology across species can potentially reveal how the brains of those species develop. “It can open the door to studying how things work, how they evolve, and how they function,” he said. However, Professor Woo added that technical and ethical challenges remain before applying this research to the human brain.
Donga Science Reporter Park Jeong-yeon hesse@donga.com
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2024-04-26 03:12:07