Transplants from one living creature to another are well known and save countless lives. Now, the ability to transplant braincells has become real.
“First, we prepared astrocyte cultures in petri dishes by extracting immature astrocytes from the cerebral cortex of newborn mice and expanding the cell population. To track the development of transplanted astrocytes following their delivery to recipient mice, we used astrocytes from genetically modified mice in which astrocytes glow red, and they are transplanted into the brain of mice where astrocytes glow green.
“We found that the transplanted astrocytes could survive for up to one year after transplantation, developing normally and integrating into the recipient brain just like the native astrocytes, with just minor differences.
“Astrocytes depend on their capability to sense signals and exchange materials within the brain environment through molecules such as receptors and ion channels located on their cell surface. Transplanted astrocytes displayed comparable numbers of such receptors and channels and possessed similar sizes and complexity when compared to native astrocytes.
“Transplanted astrocytes do appear to take some time to catch up to and perfectly match astrocytes in the recipient mice in terms of the production of these receptors and ion channels.”
Many potential benefits are touted, including less important ones like these:
“In recent years, increasing studies have been conducted to investigate the potential of astrocyte transplantation. Similar to our findings, transplanted astrocytes have been found to form normal contacts with neuronal synapses and are functioning normally. Astrocyte transplantation has also been shown to promote brain plasticity and regeneration following injury and in different animal models of neurological diseases.
“Therefore, it presents a promising and exciting strategy to treat neurological diseases. By answering principle questions regarding how transplanted astrocytes integrate in the host, our research can support the development of more effective cell therapies that can improve the quality of life of patients.”
The real benefit though, comes from the potential that your mad-science endorsing author has repeatedly highlighted and championed: The creation of intelligent catgirls suitable for domestic adoption!
Imagine the bright future where kemonomimi (not just nekomimi) can have human-like (but not too human-like, of course, because humans tend to be schmucks) intelligence!
A little tongue twister for clever catgirls:
