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This could facilitate research on human psychological problems.
Chinese scientists announced on Thursday that they had cloned five monkeys from a single genetically modified animal to cause a sleep disorder, which could facilitate research on psychological problems in humans.
The statement, detailed in two reports published in a Chinese scientific journal, is the latest in a series of biomedical advances in the country, some of which have fueled debates on medical ethics.
Recently, a Chinese scientist said last year that he had modified the DNA of babies to make them resistant to HIV.
A team of researchers from the Institute of Neuroscience of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai said that he had modified the genes of a macaque to give him a circadian rhythm disorder, in which "clock" of the body does not correspond to normal sleep hours.
They then cloned five macaques from this individual and found that new monkeys – born in the last six months – showed signs of mental problems badociated with sleep disturbances, including depression, anxiety, and behaviors. related to schizophrenia.
The results, published Thursday in the English language journal National Science Review, were hailed as a world first by the Chinese media.
The authors of the report stated that the findings could help research on human psychological diseases because scientists would be able to create animals with specific disorders.
Poo Muming, director of the Institute of Neuroscience and co-author of the study, told the official media that the research team would seek to clone more monkeys with different brain disorders into the brain. It is hoped that future experiments on these drugs could lead to new drugs or treatments.
He added that this could also reduce the total number of healthy macaques being the subject of experiments worldwide, which would help improve the welfare of the animals.
The same institute in Shanghai had already announced the news in January 2018 by announcing that researchers had cloned the first two monkeys with the help of a process called somatic cell nuclear transfer.
The method was the same as that used to produce the famous "Dolly" sheep more than 20 years ago.
Other species were then cloned using the method over the years, but until last year, primates had proved difficult to clone and the achievements of the The team was hailed as a breakthrough.
But such progress is often controversial.
Chinese researcher He Jiankui shocked the scientific community after revealing that he had managed to have genes modified by twin girls born in November to prevent them from contracting HIV.
He is now facing a police investigation and was removed from his position at the South Shenzhen University of Science and Technology.
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