December 13, 2005

Human Embryonic Stem Cells Injected into Brains of Fetal Mice

Promising research at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences in La Jolla, California involving human embryonic stem cells is giving new hope to those with Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. Researchers injected mice inside the womb with human embryonic stem cells.

The human cells had no apparent impact on the animals' behavior. About 100,000 cells were injected into each animal and just a fraction survived in their new hosts. That means the animals' brains were still more than 99 percent mouse -- a precaution that helped avoid ethical objections to creating animals that were "too human." (Washington Post)

Posted by news editor | Filed under: Stem Cell Research