A team of UK researchers has created a human embryo model with a brain and a beating heart, which is a significant medical accomplishment. The discovery follows the formation of a “synthetic” embryo without the use of human sperm or eggs, complete with a beating heart and brain.
A team of UK researchers has created a human embryo model with a brain and a beating heart, which is a significant medical accomplishment. The discovery follows the formation of a “synthetic” embryo without the use of human sperm or eggs, complete with a beating heart and brain.
Human stem cells were employed in a recent study at the University of Cambridge to make artificial structures that resembled the cells found in the third and fourth weeks of pregnancy. The study’s findings can be used to a better understanding of the consequences of genetic anomalies and the causes of recurrent miscarriages.
The study was presented at the annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research in Boston, United States. However, neither a preprint nor a peer-reviewed journal publication have yet been published.
Human stem cells were used to create the synthetic structures without the need of eggs, sperm, or fertilisation. It had a heart that beat, when a typical embryo doesn’t until day 23. The model also showed signs of blood, which would generally appear in the fourth week of pregnancy, according to the Guardian.
However, the embryo lacked the structures that would later grow into the yolk sac and placenta of a real embryo.
Dr. Jitesh Neupane of the Gurdon Institute at the University of Cambridge was reported as saying, “I’d like to emphasise that these are neither embryos nor are we actually trying to make embryos.” They are only models that may be applied to research particular facets of human development, he continued. The moment Neupane caught a sight of the beating heart cells beneath the microscope, he said, it was a life-changing moment.
“I found it to be overpowering. When you can see the heartbeat, people start to cry, he told the Guardian.
“I brought my plate under the microscope at random, and to be honest, I was afraid when I first noticed the (heartbeat). I had to glance back and then down.
The embryonic stem cells were cultured by the researchers before being put into a revolving container that served as a mock uterus.
The structures lacked the first stages of a brain, and since they lacked the precursors of the placenta and yolk sac, which are essential for directing development, they started to deviate from the normal course of development over time, according to the study.
According to Neupane, “at later time points they don’t have all the features of embryos.” To directly compare them to in vivo embryos would be risky. The results, according to the paper, might potentially be used to examine the impact of medications on developing embryos and investigate the connection between gestational diabetes and foetal heart abnormalities.
