A group at a university in the UK and others has announced that they have succeeded in artificially creating an 'embryo' in the pre-fetal stage in mice by combining stem cells that can change into various tissues of the body.
It is said that this result will lead to the elucidation of the mechanisms by which the brain and organs develop in the early stages of life.
This was published in the scientific journal "Nature" by groups such as the University of Cambridge in England.
The group aims to create mouse embryos without using sperm and eggs. We mixed and cultured three types of ES cells introduced with
As a result, the cultured cells had almost the same structure as the pre-fetal embryo.
The artificial embryo grew to eight and a half days, which is nearly half the gestation period of mice, and the entire brain began to develop, and a heartbeat was confirmed.
The group believes that the results will lead to the elucidation of the mechanisms by which the brain and organs develop during the process of mammalian embryos becoming fetuses.
Research to artificially create embryos using stem cells such as iPS cells and ES cells is underway around the world in order to investigate the mechanisms of mammalian pregnancy and fetal growth.
Professor Magdalena Zernika Getz of the University of Cambridge, who led the research, said, ``If the technology for creating artificial embryos is established, it will not only lead to the elucidation of the causes of infertility and the development of treatment methods, but also the development of artificial organs for transplantation in the future. I will open the way," he said.
Expert: “Achievements that greatly advance mammalian embryology”
Regarding the results of this research, Professor Michinori Saito of the Kyoto University Institute for Advanced Study, who specializes in life sciences, said, "By simply culturing and combining three types of stem cells in a test tube, we were able to develop brains and brains that were not possible in previous research. I am surprised that the heart has differentiated with the correct morphology, and the reproduction has progressed to the early stage of embryonic development, where complex embryonic structures are formed.It is still at a rudimentary level, but in the future, development of mammals, including humans, is possible. It is an achievement that greatly advances learning."
He added, "If the efficiency of reproduction is further improved, the time will come when we can actually create living mouse embryos only in a test tube, and we believe that this will spread to human embryos in the future. Since there are ethical rules, the extent to which research can be done varies from country to country, but research in this field is likely to become more active around the world."