Scientists Have Created Monkeys With Parkinson’s Disease

[John Wang]

Six months after researchers in China bioengineered monkeys to have autism, a Japanese team of scientists has used the same technology to create monkeys with Parkinson’s. It’s a scientific first, and it could lead to effective treatments—but do the ends justify the means?

As reported in New Scientist, a team led by Hideyuki Okano from the Keio University School of Medicine in Tokyo has used genetic engineering to create a marmoset monkey with Parkinson’s disease. The researchers unveiled the monkeys last month at a meeting in Alpbach, Austria, and say they’ve also bioengineered monkeys to mimic Alzheimer’s disease and motor neurone disease. These monkeys are now three years old, and they’ve already started to exhibit the tell-tale signs of Parkinson’s.

In the three years since the engineered marmosets were born, they developed Parkinson’s symptoms in the same way people do. This began with signs of sleep disturbance in their first year, followed by the appearance of a-synuclein-associated globules, known as Lewy bodies, in their brain stems the next year.

By their third year, the monkeys began to show the characteristic tremors associated with the condition. As further evidence of how similar these monkeys are to humans with Parkinson’s, Okano showed that their tremors could be eased by giving them L-DOPA, a drug given to people with Parkinson’s to make up for the lack of dopamine.

Do you think Scientists are mean for doing this??

Sauce

 

[USA!USA!]

Mean for doing this? No - not if it helps with some kind of cure. Poor lil monkies though...

 

[VroomyJeeps]

its morally wrong imo and i dont agree with it

 

[Law Talkin’ Guy]

Thank god monkeys can't talk, otherwise these ones would all be quoting Aliens:

"K-kill meee"

 

[John Wang]

Mean for doing this? No - not if it helps with some kind of cure. Poor lil monkies though...

Would you be okay with them doing this to human babies that were going to be aborted but sold after birth for testing, as long as it helps with some kind of cure?

 

[USA!USA!]

Would you be okay with them doing this to human babies that were going to be aborted but sold after birth for testing, as long as it helps with some kind of cure?

Sadly, yes. May be flawed logic, but at least they'd get to live vs the alternative of abortion. Plus, they'd be contributing to society.

I am assuming these doctors/scientists aren't torturing these animals and treating them well outside of their work. May be a naive assumption.

 

[John Wang]

Sadly, yes. May be flawed logic, but at least they'd get to live vs the alternative of abortion. Plus, they'd be contributing to society.

I am assuming these doctors/scientists aren't torturing these animals and treating them well outside of their work. May be a naive assumption.

Nice!! Also, from some of the comments, it appears that a few of the monkeys have been water-boarded during their infant years.

 

[j123]

Thank god monkeys can't talk, otherwise these ones would all be quoting Aliens:

"K-kill meee"

Spoiler

 

[Iroh]

So brave!

 

[Chesten_Hesten]

Caesar to the Rescue:

 

[OverCoronavirus Pressure]

Ideally, we wouldn't want to harm animals to save people.

But I'm all for it if it leads to effective treatments until it's somehow unnecessary.

 

[theskza]

Insert Ian Malcolm gif

 

[HelloJapan]

Our planet is over crowded, however I hate the idea of people dying from such illnesses. I'm for it if it can make a huge difference in quality of life, and done with respect/restraint.

 

[John Wang]

Our planet is over crowded, however I hate the idea of people dying from such illnesses. I'm for it if it can make a huge difference in quality of life, and done with respect/restraint.

I think it time we move to other planet so we have two planet

 

[rearnakedchoke]

Scientists have been doing this for years. Kinda sad, but its what is needed to help find cures.

 

[tehend]

Meh.

 

[John Wang]

Meh.

I realized I was gay when I walked in on my two dads and didn't want to leave

 

[tehend]

I realized I was gay when I walked in on my two dads and didn't want to leave

Your point?

 

[Phlog]

Monkeys wouldn't have existed were it not for the research. Monkeys are not lamenting their fate. We eat animals just for the taste ffs.

Is normal.

 

[John Wang]

Your point?

LOL