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Researchers at the University of Cambridge may have succeeded in a development long thought impossible: they have grown synthetic embryos from human stem cells – without sperm and without eggs.
What was successful in mice in the past now appears to be possible in humans as well. This groundbreaking achievement should open new avenues in genetic research. But this new research milestone also reopens the old debate about ethical principles.
There is a global race to create artificial embryo-like structures with an intestinal tract, the beginnings of a brain and a beating heart in the lab. Several teams have managed to recreate the very early stages of development. Apparently, human embryonic tissue has never been grown in the lab before as is now possible in Cambridge.
Reprogrammed stem cells
The embryos would resemble the earliest stages of human development. The idea behind this research is to use stem cells to model normal human embryonic development and to gain information about what can go wrong in human development. This without having to use human embryos for research. Scientists hope that such model embryos will soon be able to better identify and treat genetic disorders or recurrent miscarriages.
The tissue created in the lab shows neither a beating heart nor the beginnings of a brain. But it contains cells that would normally make up the placenta, yolk sac, and embryo itself. “By reprogramming embryonic stem cells, we can create human embryonic models,” explains study leader and developmental biologist Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz to the British “Guardian”.
Lots of question marks
Zernicka-Goetz praises the success of his own research, which has not yet been published in any journal, on Klee: “Our human model is the first of a human embryo to specify the progenitor cells of egg and sperm cells”. The artificial embryonic tissue is “beautiful and made entirely of embryonic stem cells”.
It is still much too early for clinical applications of such synthetic embryos. Not only would it be illegal to implant them in a patient’s uterus. It also remains unclear whether the engineered tissue could continue to mature beyond the earliest stages of development.
frontiers of science
The big open question remains whether such artificial human tissue will ever have the potential to grow into a living being. The synthetic embryos grown from mouse cells are said to look almost exactly like natural embryos. However, when implanted in the uterus of female mice, they did not develop into live animals.
In April, researchers in China succeeded in implanting synthetic monkey cell embryos into the uterus of adult monkeys. Some showed early signs of pregnancy, but all aborted after a few days.
Scientists seem to disagree on whether the obstacle is purely technical and may one day be overcome with further research – or whether there is a more fundamental biological reason why life cannot be created in a test tube. (kes)
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
