By Jeffrey Toney
May 25, 2011
That doughnut shape decorated with bright green spots, some connected by red pathways, amidst sky blue neighbors could be an artist's creation, but is the result of a creative scientific attempt to grow an active brain in a dish, complete with memories. Really.
The team at University of Pittsburg stamped adhesive proteins onto silicon discs. Once the proteins were cultured and dried, cultured hippocampus cells from embryonic rats were fused to the proteins and then given time to grow and connect to form a natural network. The researchers disabled the cells' inhibitory response and then excited the neurons with an electrical pulse.
Primary rat hippocampal cultures were capable of forming ring-shaped networks containing 40-60 neurons.
This is rather incredible, to be able to grow neurons from scratch? The implications this could have for diseases is quite profound!
No comments:
Post a Comment