"Scientists Routinely Cure Brain Disorders In Mice But Not Us. A New Study Helps Explain Why " - Sharon Begley
In the most detailed taxonomy of the human brain to date, a team of researchers as large as a symphony orchestra sorted brain cells not by their shape and location, as scientists have done for decades, but by what genes they used. Among the key findings: Mouse and human neurons that have been considered to be the same based on such standard classification schemes can have large (tenfold or greater) differences in the expression of genes for such key brain components as neurotransmitter receptors. Knowing the extensive similarities in the brains of mice and humans, and the differences, should help those developing drugs for brain diseases “make better use of mouse models,” said Eric Nestler, MD, PhD, director of the Friedman Brain Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai who was not involved in the study. “This type of very detailed molecular biology is a useful roadmap, and will much better inform the validity of animal models of brain disorders.”
— Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD, Dean, Academic and Scientific Affairs, Director, Friedman Brain Institute, Professor, Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Pharmacological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai