Our answer to Chamberlain: Russian scientists are crossing a man with a pig!
From the editorial office:
Despite the fact that the article, in accordance with the laws of the genre and the personal characteristics of the publication in which it was published, turned out to be a cheerful yellow color, we give it in full, including a piquant beginning, and a very suitable anecdote at the end. We hope that the glamorous style of presentation will not prevent readers from understanding the scientific and potential practical value of the work described here.
Natalia Vedeneeva, Moskovsky KomsomoletsRussian havroni vs British cows
MK has witnessed a unique scientific experiment
A pig and a man were crossed for the first time on Wednesday in front of a correspondent of MK by metropolitan scientists. This was our response to the British, who loudly announced a week ago the legalization of the creation of hybrid embryonic cells. But it turns out that in Russia, the staff of the Stem Cell Institute has been poring over the same thing for 4 years, however, unlike foreign like-minded people, they do it quietly and modestly. MK turned out to be the only witness to a unique operation.
– In the end, we are tired of pretending that we are trailing in the tail of Western science, – the director of the Institute, Professor Alexander TEPLYASHIN, introduces the essence of the matter. – Moreover, our experiments on the creation of hybrid human and animal cells are more successful.
The cell engineering laboratory is dead silent. Candidate of Biological Sciences Natalia Chupikova under the microscope does what the church calls criminal – like the Creator, connects the seemingly incongruous – pig egg and human skin somatic cell. “Why is that? I ask.
– In order to learn how to get native stem cells of a patient who needs their transplantation, – explains Teplyashin. – It is difficult to extract them from a human embryo. Firstly, for moral reasons, and secondly, foreign stem cells take root very poorly. The British are also seeking to obtain the patient's native embryonic cell. But there are nuances in our work (the method has already been patented) that allow us to get more hybrid embryos at the output. We get 9% of them, and our Western colleagues have only 5.2%.
– What are these nuances?
– For example, we took another source material. If scientists in the UK used a cow egg, then we turned to a pig egg for the first time. Their choice is clear – cow cells are the most studied. But after all, the blastocyst (an embryo in which stem cells have already matured) matures slower in a cow than in a human. Probably, this is the reason for the small output of finished “products”... Maybe things will go faster with pig eggs? After all, the maturation time of its blastocyst and human is about the same – 5-6 days (in humans – 5 days). After contacting the meat processing plant, we purchased pig ovaries and began the study.
How this happens, the correspondent of “MK” managed to see firsthand in a microscope. First, her native pig nucleus was removed from the havronya's cage. The cage was empty, but not for long. Soon it was merged with the isolated human skin cell. Alas, I did not wait for the appearance of a full–fledged chimeric embryo with a set of host stem cells (in this case, a skin cell donor) - this will happen in at least 5 days. But the professor anticipated the event by telling how it happened in other experiments of his subordinates.
– In order for the hybrid embryo to begin to develop, we had to try a lot of nutrient media, – says Teplyashin. – Human environments (those in which IVF is performed) did not fit. Those that are used for the embryonic development of pigs also turned out to be unsuitable. As a result, our employees had to develop a new modified nutrient medium themselves. Only in it the process went.
– What results have you already achieved?
– We have received a hybrid embryo and are already trying to isolate stem cells from it. However, so far we have not been able to isolate the embryonic line in its pure form. I think our British colleagues are at about the same stage, otherwise they would have trumpeted good luck to the whole world long ago.
So, if scientists manage to get stem embryonic cells from a chimeric creature and plant them again to an adult, this will mean starting the reprogramming process. That is, the patient's organs will again begin to return to their former healthy state, which only the organs of a newborn can boast of.
ANECDOTE OF THE DAY
Husband and wife are having lunch. Wife spills borscht on herself:
– Ugh! I look like a pig!
– Yeah. And even poured borscht!
Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru29.05.2008