Japanese scientists got approval to build first human-animal hybrid

Japanese scientists got approval from the government to build the first human-animal hybrid. This approval came after a Japanese biologist requested the government for authorization to use human-animal cells in tests.

Before approval for this research, there was a ban on human stem-cell research. Stem-cell research refers to the study of the usage of specialized cells to develop therapies for diseases or injuries.

Hiromitsu Nakauchi is a stem cell specialist and researcher at the University of Tokyo and the University of California. He intends to plant human cells in animals like rats and mice to build an animal-human hybrid. His method involves genetic manipulation in an animal embryo and a specific organ removal from a fertilized egg.

*Scientists to create an animal-human hybrid by injecting human cells into a rat embryo*

An animal embryo is genetically changed by injecting human cells into its embryo to carry out this experiment. Embryo refers to the early cellular development stage of organisms.

The resultant embryo is then placed inside the animal. The infant animal will thus have a human organ rather than its own. Afterward, scientists can extract their organs to transplant them into humans in need of an organ donor.

However, scientists have previously inserted human cells into pig, cow, and rat embryos in America. But they failed to carry these animal embryos to their full term.

But in one such early Japanese research, rat cells carrying rat genes persisted in becoming rat organs rather than humanized ones. Such scientific attempts in the past failed.

*Rat organs genetically altered by human cells can result in a successful human-rat hybrid*

Click here to read the updates on Chinese doctors transplanted pig kidney into brain-dead human body

If a rat/mouse genetically modified organ with human cells becomes successful, it may create countless supplies of donor organs used for human transplantation.

This is one of the reasons Japanese scientists got approval to build the first human-animal hybrid. However, this human-animal hybrid experiment remains extremely questionable as several people consider it against the rule of nature.

Some critics find the human-animal hybrid as a challenge to the will of God. On the other hand, the restricted supply of organ donors in humans inspired scientists to conduct such experiments.