Of Mice and Human Brain Cells Amazing news from the genetic front continue to amaze and dazzle us.
Hardly a day goes by when we do not hear about some new wonder being generated by the mix and match alchemy of biologic engineering. After creating Dolly the sheep and then creating mice that glow in the dark, the scientists have now announced their success in growing human brain cells in the heads of mice.
The scientists say they have not observed any deleterious human effects on the mice or seen any bizarre behavior in them. They hope that this frankensteinisque experiment would open up enormous possibilities for treating hitherto incurable ailments in humans. They also think it is possible to replace mice brain entirely with human brain cells. Just imagine a mouse running around with his head full of human thoughts.
The scientists are, it must be said, concerned about the ethical implications of such experiments. They are concerned that if the genie of genetic engineering would get out of the proverbial bottle who could predict the end point even if there was one. Some one ought to tell them that the genie came out long time ago when they started the creation of mice, sheep, cows etc. without the biologic embrace of an egg and a sperm. Human cloning is just on the horizon.
I feel sorry for the mice who have become guinea pigs for our benefit.
For all we know they have climbed, like their other rodent cousins the rats, the evolutionary ladder just as successfully as the humans have.
They are more adapt at adjusting to changing situations, can outsmart us without the benefit of human neurons, and have been drawing circles around us for untold millennia. It is we, the humans, who have been complaining about them. The reverse has never been recorded.
I cohabitate with some of their kind at our Lake Diane cottage in Camden, Michigan. I see them scurrying around the cottage as if they own the place. While running across the rooms they acknowledge my presence but with a cursory beady look. I tried to send them a message by using mousetraps. After smashing my fingers a few times I was able to load the mousetraps with chunks of choice cheese. I placed the traps at strategic locations along the path of their usual crossings and waited.
Next day the cheese was gone, nibbled neatly around the trap, but no mice. While re-priming the traps I went through the painful process of having my fingers smashed again. I wished I had some mice brain cells in my head to level the playing fields.
But it is nearly impossible to outsmart the mice. Just look at how Jerry makes a fool of Tom in every episode of Tom and Jerry cartoon show.
After humiliating his nemesis, Jerry retreats to his comfortably appointed quarters through a tiny round door in the base boards where he gleefully munches on his cheese as Tom tries to claw him blindly through the hole. Tom could turn the tables if he had a pinch of Jerry’s brain in his head. Then in every episode he would eat Jerry for an appetizer before wolfing down his favorite entrée of cat chow.
Mice and their cousins, the rats, are not only smart, they are also good runners and sensible eaters when compared to us. Without the benefit of steroids a rat can run half a mile without pause. Translated in human terms that would be nonstop running for 90 miles. And they eat and drink according to their needs no matter how plentiful the food. How many of us mortals possess this kind of restraint at the all-you-can-eat-for-only-$5.95 buffets? Wouldn’t it make sense if we would start putting bits of rodent tissues in our hearts and brains? It will turn us all into leaner and meaner and hopefully beautiful body machines.
I am afraid this biologic reshuffling might lead to human traits entering the genetic pool of mice and rats. My fears are rather personal. Every week, for over 20 years, five of my friends and I have gotten together for an evening of playing cards. As some of you know the game of sweep can be rather intense and absorbing. What would prevent a little mouse to take advantage of our altered mental state and lead the six sweep addicts, in a reverse re-enactment of Robert Browning’s The Pied Piper of Hamelin, to the water edge while playing his tiny flute? I think the scientist should instead concentrate on developing a better mousetrap.
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