TAJIRI

• WHAT DID TAJIRI ET AL STUDY?

  evidence that brain can recover (in animal studies)

  • two groups of rats given brain damage in same region
  • one group injected with stem cells near injury
  • group injected showed neural recovery, other did not
  • stem cell treatment makes functional recovery more likely
• EVALUATION OF TAJIRI'S STUDY?

  • must be cautious extrapolating
  • difficult to generalise due to more complex brain functions in humans (e.g. language)
  • how can we be sure functional recovery occurs in the same way?
  • ethical issues
• COUNTERARGUMENT FOR ETHICAL ISSUES?

  • would not be able to carry out study on humans ethically
  • need to measure before and after damage
  • benefits of learning outweigh risk of harm