Researchers often use mice to conduct their laboratory experiments. This is because mice are similar to humans in many qualities. One of the most important laboratory uses is the use of mice in new drug trials.
example , if we try a new treatment for depression in mice does this necessarily mean that the treatment will work for humans?
this what we want but this doesn't work all the time.
But why this is?
The new study, conducted by a group of scientists at the Allen Institute of Brain Science in Seattle, suggests an explanation.
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The researchers used the brains donated by deceased people or brain tissue donated by people with epilepsy after excision while performing brain operations. Researchers screened 16,000 medial temporal gyrus cells responsible for language and logical processing and identified 75 different cell types.
When compared to mice, they find that the mouse has almost the same cells!
Why drugs that work well in mice brains fail when applied to humans Drugs tried on mice Why humans test their mice
So where's the new one?
Scientists compared the activated and inhibitory genes in those similar cells and found a significant difference between humans and mice.
For example, the neurotransmitter serotonin regulates appetite, mood, memory and sleep. Serotonin performs this role by binding to brain cells with certain receptors on their surface.
Researchers have discovered that serotonin receptors in humans are found in cells different from those in mice. Drugs that raise the concentration of serotonin in the brain, such as depression medications, must reach specific human cells to bind to their receptors. In rat brains, they bind to receptors on other cells.
They also found a difference in the expression of genes that help build connections between neurons. In fact, the cellular connections in our brains look very different from those in mice.
"The bottom line is there are great similarities and differences between our brain and that of the mouse," co-senior author Christof Koch, the chief scientist and president of the Allen Institute for Brain Science, said in a statement. "One of these tells us that there is great evolutionary continuity, and the other tells us that we are unique."
"If you want to cure human brain diseases, you have to understand the uniqueness of the human brain,"
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