MALESE RATS GIVE BIRTH TO SMALL

A CHINESE EXPERIENCE  LIKE FRANKENSTEIN

Chinese scientists forced male rats to give birth to young through Frankenstein-style experiments. This "feat" is attributed to a team from Shanghai Naval Medicine University. She succeeded in reproducing a model of pregnancy in a male rat.

A turning point in research on male reproduction

The team from the Shanghai Naval Medicine University has in fact constructed a model of pregnancy in the male rat in four stages.

The first step was to match a male rat with a female at the skin level. The two specimens then shared their blood. In the next step, the researchers transplanted the uterus of another female into the male. Then the embryos were implanted in the male and the female.

The research team allowed the embryos to develop for 21 and a half days before performing a cesarean section. The fourth and final step was to separate the rats.

The male specimens were able to survive three months after the operation. The mice resulting from the experiment managed to reach adulthood without any health problems.

However, not all of the embryos survived. The prepublication mentions abnormally dead fetuses. Their morphology and colors distinguished them from normal fetuses. According to the report, the deaths were caused by swelling or atrophy of the placenta.

“For the first time, we have built a model of pregnancy in a male mammal. Our study reveals the possibility of normal embryonic development in male mammals, and this may have a profound impact on research in reproductive biology, ”conclude the researchers in the paper.

A Frankenstein experience

If Victor Frankenstein indulges in a foul practice to bring his creature to life in the famous novel Frankenstein or Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley, it remains fiction. The mad scientist manages to bring an artificial creature to life by assembling different pieces of corpses.

The Chinese study, on the other hand, is very real. And she can only question.

The association For an Ethics in the Treatment of Animals (PETA) reacted immediately. His advisor Emily McIvor talks about a despicable study only "to establish if they could have cubs" after torturing the rats. "Surgically assembling two sensitive rats - which have endured mutilations and weeks of prolonged suffering - is unethical and is Frankenstein's science," McIvor told the Daily Mail . She told Mail Online: “In this despicable study, after being castrated and forcibly married to a female rat, male rats were cut and implanted with a uterus and embryos were inserted into it - all to establish s 'they could "successfully" produce young people.

"These shocking experiences are driven solely by curiosity and do nothing to deepen our understanding of the human reproductive system. "