In the last century, a biologist in the Soviet Union tried to combine humans and chimpanzees to create " ape warrior ". He was eventually imprisoned on suspicion of conducting human experiments.
Concept map of ape warriors
Now, will the "human and animal embryo experiments" launched in Japan repeat the same mistakes? If not, how is it different from human-animal hybrid experiments?
Human and animal embryo experiments
This experiment looks like a human-animal hybrid experiment, but in fact, it is not comparable at all.
Human and animal embryo experiments can be simply understood as using animals as culture carriers to cultivate human body organs .
Pigs have become the preferred carrier
Your own body organs are extremely precious. Once they are damaged and cannot be used, you can only queue up for organ transplantation , which is very troublesome.
Can human organs really be cultivated through technical means?
can clearly tell you that theoretically can implement .
Among human cells, there are a type of stem cells called stem cells . Stem cells are also known as "universal cells" .
The ability of stem cells cannot be underestimated
Why are they said to be omnipotent? Because stem cells can differentiate into any type of cell in the human body, their differentiation branches are countless, and they can even give birth to unknown cells, which is very miraculous.
A research team from the University of Leuven in Belgium used stem cells to generate a new type of human cell in the laboratory. This type of cell has never appeared in humans before.
If humans can control the evolution of stem cells, they can even use this technology to achieve a leap in human physical fitness.
Cells differentiated from stem cells can form various body tissues , organs, and even progenitor cells.
According to data from biologists, more than 200 types of cells in the human body are differentiated from stem cells.
Classification of stem cells
Stem cells also play a role in renewal in our bodies.
For example, cells that have died of old age in certain parts of the body will be replaced and replaced by cells of the same type differentiated from stem cells, which is of great use.
is most commonly used to treat cancer cells.
Cancer cells are cancerous changes of normal cells in the body. In order to prevent the spread of cancer cells, the cells must be cleaned regularly, which is called chemotherapy in medicine.
The structure of cancer cells
Loss of cells will cause body dysfunction. At this time, drugs are needed to stimulate stem cells to replenish the body's lost cells.
In addition, the repair function of stem cells has also been used to repair human limbs. This method is spontaneous in the human body and has no side effects.
is currently in the critical stage of overcoming technical difficulties. Once successful, it will be a huge boon for people with disabilities.
So, how do magical stem cells create organs? Let's take a look.
Japan's experiment
Before that, we can theoretically understand the process of organ cultivation , so as to facilitate the understanding of Japan's experiment.
In layman's terms, we extract a certain amount of stem cells from the patient's body and transplant these stem cells into the uterus of the animal for cultivation.
Stem cell culture
As soon as the animal's reproductive cycle arrives, we can "deliver" the organ and then transplant it to the patient. Although
looks extremely simple, is such an experimental process really feasible?
First of all, we will not go into details about the possibility of stem cells as universal cells. What we want to discuss is why uterus should be used as a place for cultivation?
Because the uterus is the perfect place for all cells to grow . It has the best environment to nurture life. If stem cells are placed in the uterus, they will definitely be able to thrive. The human uterus is definitely not advisable because it involves human testing, so animals can only be chosen as a substitute.
We can simply understand stem cells as fertilized eggs of animals. How the latter develops in the body of animals, then the cultivation process of stem cells is also the same, and it is naturally feasible.
Fertilized egg growth
Secondly, these stem cells are all taken from the patient's body and contain the patient's genes and other factors. Once cultured successfully, there is no mismatch.
Finally, animal experiments are not accomplished overnight. Scientists must have gone through a large number of experiments and demonstrated them repeatedly before publishing them to the public. At the beginning of
, Japanese experimenters first conducted experiments with the laboratory model worker-" mouse ".
Although mice cannot grow organs for humans, they can verify the feasibility of the theory for us. The first experiment of
was definitely a failure, but the scientists were not discouraged, but summed up their experiences and lessons and continued related work.
is still in the research stage, and the entire experimental process is confidential to the outside world, but I believe that this technology will appear in medicine in the near future.
Mice have paid too much for human experiments.
Benefits and Controversies
Such an advanced technology has further aroused heated discussions on the Internet , and there are endless voices of opposition.
Cultivating human organs can solve the problem of difficult organ transplantation. The most difficult part of organ transplantation today is the mismatch between the patient and the model in the organ bank.
Many patients who need organ transplants often have to queue up to "pre-purchase". The surgery can only begin when the organ bank is available.
Some patients wait for several years, which is quite unfriendly to those acute patients.
The cultivated human organs can grow into the existence that people need within a few months. Although the time is a bit long, it is better than waiting for several years.
Organ cultivation
At present, my country's organ bank inventory is in very short supply. The reason is that our people's desire to donate organs is not strong, and the process of organ donation is also relatively cumbersome.
It is difficult for the donor to donate, and it is also difficult for the donor. If human organs can be cultivated, it can alleviate the contradictions in today's medicine and give patients with organ failure a greater chance of survival.
Not only that, the match between the cultured organs and the patient is almost 100%, so there is no need to worry about related issues. If
is really successful, maybe organ donation will disappear from the stage of history.
However, many people point out that are organs grown using animal uteruses really "pure"? Will there be animal genes mixed in? impact on the patient's future.
Organ cultivation technology
In 1984, Stephanie Faye Pokle transplanted the heart of a chimpanzee. 14 days later, she died tragically in the hospital bed.
There is an insurmountable gap between humans and animals in nature. The organs and genes of the two are definitely and cannot be confused . Whether
is good or not still requires answers from the experimenters, but they must have considered this before the experiment. After everything is over, there will be a result that everyone is satisfied with.
Medical Experiment
Some people also believe that using animals to cultivate human organs is very cruel to animals and has caused dissatisfaction with the Animal Association.
At present, the ideal animal uterus for cultivating human organs is primates such as monkeys and chimpanzees. We were one family tens of millions of years ago.
Especially chimpanzees , humans separated from their groups about 4 million to 6 million years ago and are our closest relatives.
The evolution of humans and chimpanzees
If they grow human organs, will they cause irreversible damage to themselves? By then, if this technology is really successful, will it lead to a significant reduction in the number of primates? These social problems are attacking the Japanese scientific research team.
Finally, some people believe that when human organs become rampant, social and ethical issues may arise. When organs are not valued by people, the value of life will also be underestimated.
Even in the not-too-distant future, some activists will equate organ culture technology with human gene cloning technology.
Taking pigs as an example, the basic operation of gene cloning technology
Various problems are reminding scientists not to be impatient on the road of scientific research. Everything must be done slowly and solved one problem at a time in order to bring benefits to mankind.
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