Researchers swap in human brain cells for a mouse's cortex

Researchers have successfully transplanted human brain cells into a mouse's cortex, but the results show only a slight improvement in cognitive function compared to a mouse without a cortex. The study, published in the journal Nature, used a technique called organotypic brain slice transplantation to graft human brain cells into the mouse's cortex. The human cells were taken from the cerebral cortex of a human brain and implanted into the mouse's cortex, where they integrated with the existing mouse brain tissue. The researchers found that the transplanted mice performed slightly better in certain cognitive tasks, such as learning and memory, compared to mice without a cortex. However, the improvement was not significant enough to suggest that the human brain cells had formed a functional network with the mouse brain. The study's authors suggest that the human brain cells may have been isolated and not integrated with the mouse brain, which could explain the limited improvement in cognitive function.