Crossbreeding monkeys with people has succeeded researchers from China and the United States.
Scientists have introduced human stem cells in the embryos of primates and grow quirky embryos within 20 days – the maximum time allowed for such experiments. The results of the scientific work were published in the journal Cell.
During the experiment, 25 human stem cells were injected into monkey embryos six days after fertilization.
One day later, the cells took root in 132 embryos, but on the tenth day 103 queer embryos remained, and on the 19th day only three embryos remained alive. At the same time, the percentage of human cells remained high throughout the duration of the experiment.
Chimeras are living organisms whose DNA consists of a heterogeneous set of cells. Their source may be either different individuals of the same species, or representatives of different species. Scientists created the first artificial chimeras half a century ago.
It is known that human and animal chimeras die quickly, and human stem cells do not take root well.
By creating chimeras based on human and primate cells, which are close to humans in evolutionary terms, we will be able to understand what prevents the formation of chimeras and how we can overcome these barriers, – said the study authors.
In the long term, scientists hope to use chimeras to develop new approaches to drug screening, as well as to create cells, tissues or organs for transplantation.
We previously reported that 27 monkeys were euthanized in NASA labs in February 2019. The animals were killed at the Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. According to an agency document, 21 of the primates suffered from Parkinson’s disease.
