A team of researchers from the University of Rochester in New York (USA) has confirmed that injecting glial cells into the brain of mice causes a significant improvement in both memory and cognition in the rodent . The work has been published in The Journal of Neuroscience .
The introduction of mature human brain cells into the brain of a mouse – even though it may seem out of a horror movie – is not about cells involved in thinking, since they are not neurons , but astrocytes, brain cells in charge of memory retention among other things (help to strengthen the connections between neurons) and that originate in the early stages of development of the central nervous system .
The scientists introduced 300,000 glial cells (from human embryos that had been donated), and after twelve months, they discovered that these had multiplied and had grown to 12 million cells , completely displacing the original astrocytes of the mice. According to the experts, this growth stopped when the cells “ran into” the physical confines of the skull.
Subsequent tests determined that the rodents had a much higher memory capacity than normal mice and that they had clearly improved their cognition: they were four times smarter . These tests were based on the measurement of the ability to recall a sound associated with a mild electrical discharge in two groups of rodents, one control and the other with implanted glial cells. The mice with the implant were four times more paralyzed than the other mice when they heard the sound. “We can say that, statistically, these mice were significantly more intelligent than the mice in the control group, ” explains Steve Goldman, leader of the study.
