Scientists transplanted an organized clump of human brain cells, or organoid (green), onto this rat's brain, shown here as a cross section. Image Credit: Jgamadze et al

Health United States6. February 2023

World’s First “Minibrains”: The Future of Healing Brain Injuries?

In a historical first, scientists transplanted lab-grown human brain organoids into rat brains in order to repair broken connections in the rodents’ sensory processing systems.

“I see this as the first step in developing a new strategy for repairing the brain,” explains Dr. Han-Chiao Isaac Chen, the study’s senior author and an assistant professor of neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

Researchers are hopeful that these organoids could restore brain function in humans suffering from traumatic injury, invasive surgery, stroke, and even neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s. Later on, this technology could potentially be integrated into other parts of the brain such as the motor cortex where movement is controlled. For now, however, we are still many years away from this historical technology being used in human patients.

Source:
LiveScience

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