2023-09-11 04:00:05
A team of Israeli researchers from the Weizmann Institute has, for the first time, succeeded in creating complete models of human embryos without any sperm, uterus or egg. These embryos managed to develop without difficulty.
Image d’illustration Pixabay
This is a major scientific advance. To achieve this result, the researchers used “pluripotent” stem cells (also called “naïve” cells) which have the particularity of not having a predefined function, and of being capable of transforming into different types of cells. Some of these cells were used to become the embryo, others were transformed into the placenta, the placenta is a unique organ that physically and biologically connects the embryo in…), in the yolk sac or even in the extra-embryonic membrane of the mesoderm, and this by “simply” activating specific genes. The strains thus brought together then self-organized in a completely spontaneous manner, and managed to develop until they formed “embryo models”. The researchers were then able to observe these embryos growing without any difficulty, for 14 days: this is the legal limit authorized in the context of embryonic research (law of bioethics (Bioethics is a part of ethics which appeared , as…) of 2021). At this stage (A stage (from the ancient Greek στ?διον stadion, from the verb…), they measured 0.5mm and contained around 2500 cells.
Even if these results may raise ethical questions, they will allow us to know more regarding the first stages of embryonic development, which are still too little known to date. Furthermore, they might open the way to new research on congenital diseases or infertility (Infertility (or sterility) is the difficulty, even the impossibility,…) in particular.
Dynamic models of complete human embryos at day 14
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