Scientists make male rats get pregnant

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Scientists make male rats get pregnant
Scientists make male rats get pregnant
Anonim

The world's first man who can give birth to a healthy child can receive a reward of $ 1 million. Such a testament was left by the American actor Charlie Chaplin at one time, but the money has not yet been received by anyone. It seems that in the very distant future, the reward will still fall into the hands of some man. Indeed, recently, Chinese scientists managed to conduct an experiment during which male laboratory rats were able to give birth to 10 healthy cubs. The process turned out to be very difficult and scientific work was subject to sharp criticism from animal advocates. But there is a fact - science may well make it so that a man can independently bear and give birth to a child. Let's see what is interesting about the experience carried out by Chinese scientists and why this scientific work was disliked by many of their colleagues?

Pregnant male rat

The scientific achievement of Chinese scientists was reported in the Daily Mail. In an experiment to create pregnant animals, laboratory rats of the species Rattus norvegicus f. domestica specially grown for scientific purposes. Most often, mice are involved in research, but rats are more preferred in the field of biomedicine. In total, the scientists selected 46 pairs of rats of different sexes.

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In the news source you can see real photos of the experiment, but they are very shocking.

The experiment was pretty brutal. Scientists have created a single organism from males and females by stitching them together. After combining their circulatory systems, the males were transplanted with a uterus. Scientists could not do without stitching two bodies, because for the development of the baby, substances contained in the blood of females are needed. 562 embryos were introduced into the female half of the body, and 280 embryos were introduced into the male half. It turned out that 169 embryos could develop in the female part, and only 27 in the male part.

The cruel experiment of Chinese scientists

Pregnancy in laboratory mice lasted as usual, about 21 days. After the expiration of this period, scientists performed a caesarean section on the males and found that the rodents were able to successfully carry 10 rat pups. They turned out to be completely healthy, that is, they did not have any diseases or developmental disabilities. Subsequently, they also gave healthy offspring without any problems.

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Male laboratory rats were able to give completely healthy offspring

In fact, Chinese scientists managed to help males get pregnant and give birth. The authors of the scientific work emphasized that the key role in the experiment was played by the blood of females, which is extremely necessary for the development of the fetus. The effectiveness of this method is only 3.68% and it is very cruel towards living beings, but scientists now know in which direction they need to move.

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Conservationists compare the experiment to that of Dr. Frankenstein

Since the experiment turned out to be cruel, criticism from animal advocates and society in general was not long in coming. Opponents of the Chinese scientists compared their scientific work with the experiments of Dr. Frankenstein, who in the novel by the English writer Mary Shelley "Frankenstein, or Modern Prometheus" tried to create a living being from inanimate matter. It is noteworthy that the author of the novel did not describe the entire process of creating the monster, so that someone would not try to repeat it. But in film adaptations, the result of the experiment looks like something sewn from different organisms.

The first man to give birth to a child

At the beginning of the article, I mentioned that Charlie Chaplin bequeathed $ 1 million to a man who would be the first to get pregnant and have a baby. It's hard to believe, but there is such a person - this is the American public figure and writer Thomas Beatie. He is transgender, that is, a person who was born and changed his sex in adulthood. He was originally a girl named Tracy LaGondino, and became a man after surgery in 2002. It is noteworthy that the female genital organs were not removed from him. After marriage, he changed all documents for men, and in 2007 he became pregnant by artificial insemination. From a biological point of view, he is a woman, but according to documents, he is a full-fledged man who was able to give birth to a child.

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Thomas Beaty before and after sex reassignment surgery and during pregnancy

But he did not receive the coveted money from Charlie Chaplin. And all because the actor clarified that only a man by birth will receive the reward. Indeed, there could be women in the world who could simply change the gender in their passport and give birth to a child - in this case, they were quite capable of getting what they wanted. But Charlie Chaplin has foreseen everything.

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