The ape-man embryo
Scientists from the USA and Spain have created a chimera embryo of a human and a monkey
A team of Spanish and American scientists was able to create a human and monkey chimera embryo in a laboratory in China, Pais newspaper reports, citing one of the project participants, biologist and vice-rector for Research at the Catholic University of Murcia Estrella Nunez.
A chimera in biology is an organism created by their genetically heterogeneous cells.
Scientists injected human stem cells into animal embryos to grow new organs for transplantation. The result of the experiments was an embryo with human cells, which was never born, because scientists stopped the process.
Photo: Salk Institute for Biological Studies
The team of scientists included representatives of the Catholic University of Murcia and the American Salk Institute for Biological Research, led by Spaniard Juan Carlos Izpisua (Juan Carlos Izpisúa).
"The results are very promising," Nunes said. At this stage, scientists do not disclose the details of the experiment, as they are going to publish its results in an international scientific journal.
"Now we, scientists from the Catholic University of Murcia and the Salk Institute for Biological Research, are trying to make progress and continue research not only with human cells and cells of rodents and pigs, but also with cells of non–human primates," said the head of the project Izpisua.
The research was conducted in China, as Spanish legislation severely restricts such research. Studies related to fatal diseases are considered acceptable. "The final goal is to create a human organ that is suitable for transplantation, but the path to the goal is almost as interesting for scientists," Nunes said.
Director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine of Barcelona Angel Raya has already noted the importance of observing "ethical barriers" in experiments with chimeras. "What happens if stem cells... form human neurons in an animal's brain? Will he have consciousness? And what happens if stem cells turn into sperm cells?" – he asks questions. Nunes, however, states that scientists have created a mechanism that will lead to "self-destruction of human cells if they migrate to the brain."
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