2023-09-07 05:42:25
Scientists have developed structures similar to the human embryo without sperm or egg, a new hope for research on miscarriages and birth defects that nevertheless raises ethical questions.
A group of researchers published their research in the scientific journal ‘Nature’ on Wednesday, describing how they managed to create a mock-embryo from human embryonic stem cells.
Scientists have hailed the work as an “impressive” breakthrough that might unlock the secrets of the early days of pregnancy, when failures are most common.
These results continue to fuel the debate on clearer ethical rules on the laboratory development of human embryonic models.
The group of researchers, led by Palestinian Jacob Hanna of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, produced mock human embryos aged 14 days, the legal limit for such research in many countries, until now. where organs like the brain begin to develop.
The researchers assured that their work differed from previous ones on the subject, because they used chemically rather than genetically modified cells, and because their models, with yolk sac and amniotic cavity, looked more like human embryos.
These similarities may make these models more effective for research on miscarriage, genital malformations and infertility, said James Briscoe, of the Francis-Crick Institute, London.
The structure created “seems to produce all the different types of cells that form tissues at this early stage of development,” he said.
This study “is a step towards understanding a period of human development which leads to the failure of many pregnancies, and which has always been very difficult to study until now”.
The researchers behind the study and other scientists insisted that the structures created should not be considered human embryos.
They “strongly resemble, but are not identical” to human embryos, the study said.
This research and other recent work shows that “models of human embryos are becoming more sophisticated and closer to what can happen during normal development,” said Darius Widera, a cell biology expert at the university. English from Reading.
The text underlines “that a robust regulatory framework is more necessary than ever”, he insisted.
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