Embryo models to understand the beginnings of life

2023-07-05 21:07:45, Shëndeti CNA

Scientists have created embryo models to help them study the mysteries of early human development, the medical problems that occur before birth and the reasons why many pregnancies fail. These models are created from stem cells, rather than eggs and sperm, and cannot grow further to become babies.

The news that scientists can produce the earliest form of human life in laboratory conditions has caused a stir around the world.

This was first announced during a June 14 speech in Boston by Professor Magdalena Zerinka-Goetz at the annual meeting of the International Society for the Study of Stem Cells. At that time, the study had not yet been subjected to scientific opposition.

Ms. Zerinka-Goetz collaborates with the University of Cambridge and the California Institute of Technology. Now her study has been published in the scientific journal "Nature", together with another study by scientists from the Jeill University in the United States. Both studies succeeded in producing 14-day-old embryos from human stem cells. The models represent the stage immediately after the creation of the embryo, when it is difficult to study it. The techniques of the two medical teams vary. The Cambridge team, for example, used pre-engineered stem cells. Also, other scientists in Israel and China have published their studies this month.

Professor Zerinka-Goetz explained during a conference in Los Angeles the biggest challenges her team faces in creating a model that fully mimics the human embryo.

"We would also like to improve our model as although we see on the one hand how wonderful it is, we know that there are some aspects that do not fully mimic a real human embryo. So we are thinking about how to improve it and this is something we are continuing to work on and we cannot talk about the details. But, of course, if we discover an idea or a way to implement it, then we will report it again," she said.

The two Cambridge and California models mimic development up to 14 days after fertilization. The model contains embryonic cells that continue to produce structures around the embryo, such as the placenta. The Yale team's model begins to resemble a human embryo 9-14 days after fertilization.

"These are structures that come from stem cells grown in the lab and put together in ways that encourage the creation of embryo-like formations. So they mimic the organization of embryos and start to behave in a way like embryos. This is where the research work is focused, to understand how it really happens, what needs to be done to support the interaction to create embryos and by doing this to understand more about early development, whether in animals or in humans", says Dr. James Briscoe, scientist at the Francis Crick Research Center in London.

Dr. Briscoe thinks this type of research could explain in the future why pregnancy fails.

Even Jacob Hanna, from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, says that their research also mimics the embryo up to the 14th day after fertilization. He says that this research work is necessary, as there is no other way to understand the behavior of the embryo in the early stages.

"There's a lot of effort going into researching how we can get from stem cells to the organs we need to mimic the human embryo. The big obstacle has been that we do not have access to embryonic development from the seventh day until the 28th day, because it is a very early stage of pregnancy. Usually women don't even know they are pregnant. There are also many ethical and technical problems in obtaining such data", says Professor Hanna.

The other advantage is that since the models are not real embryos, there are no legal restrictions on them. In the future, they can also be used to explore the effects of the environment and chemicals on the early development of embryos./ VOA