A team of Tjele, Denmark, scientists is trying to clone pigs that are suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
The Denmark newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad said the scientists at the Foulum Research Center have several Alzheimer's medications ready to test should they succeed in producing the world's first cloned pig suffering from the neurological disease.
"We have good reasons to expect that some of our sows are pregnant with cloned egg cells, and if everything goes as it should, Denmark's first cloned pig should see the light of day in the spring," said Professor Gabor Vajta from Foulum.
Eight nations have already successfully produced cloned pigs, but Denmark is the first place in the world where identical pigs will be used in an attempt to crack the code behind brain diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, the Copenhagen Post reported Tuesday.
Foulum has recruited a Chinese scientist who bred the first cloned pigs in China to assist in the experiment.
The next step will be to produce pigs suffering from Alzheimer's, and when the disease becomes apparent in the one-year-old pigs, scientists can begin testing some of the medicines that are ready for trial.
Copyright 2005 by United Press International
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